Delayed Devotion
by TalonsandTealeaves
Summary: It's the beginning of the school year, and Lily Evans has returned for her final year of Hogwarts as Head Girl. With many surprises in store, the year begins to takes a very different course than she expected. And who's to blame for that?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hi, this is my first attempt at fanfic so I would really appreciate any advice or feedback you could give me, thanks! Unfortunately ****I don't own anything.**

Lily breathed in the morning of the first of September with great satisfaction. The cool breeze teased her long red hair and played about her face as she walked briskly through the barrier between platforms nine and ten. As her true destination materialised in front of her eyes she couldn't help feeling a twinge of sadness. This would be the last time that she would board the Hogwarts Express, to be whisked away with the promise of another year of excitement, hard work and above all magic.

As she observed the familiar scene before her, she took care to absorb all the sounds, sights and smells that the first day of term brought with it. The laughter of children could be heard over the hoots and screeches of owls, friends were embracing each other and catching up after the summer of separation.

Lily stopped at the sight of a tearful mother hugging a small red haired girl. So much had changed in seven years. Her final journey to King's Cross had been one she had made alone. Over the summer her sister Petunia had got engaged to Vernon Dursley and both she and their parents had gone to stay with their soon to be in-laws for the week, leaving Lily quite alone. Petunia had made every effort to isolate herself from Lily since the last time they had both stood on this very platform.

'Hey! Lily, over here!' She turned around to see her friend Marlene McKinnon walking towards her. As she approached, Lily quickly wiped her eyes with the hem of her cardigan. For some reason they had begun to water slightly.

'So Lils how was your summer?'

'Pretty quiet really, I spent most of it trying to avoid Petunia and her vile _fiancé_. What about yours?'

'It was nothing too special really. Congratulations on getting head girl by the way'

'Thanks, it really means a lot.' The years of blood, sweat and tears finally had been worth it to wear the shiny 'head girl' badge proudly on her chest. Lily was looking forward to working closely with the staff, prefects and, of course, the head boy, whoever he may be.

The girls slowly made their way towards the Hogwarts Express arm in arm, waving and greeting their classmates as they went.

As they reached the train, Marlene went to find an empty compartment while Lily tried, with little success, to heave her heavy trunk up the stairs and onto the train. She was just considering using a hover charm when a voice whispered into her ear-

'Having trouble Evans?'

She jumped and turned to find herself face to face with

'Potter-'

An arrogant smile was playing crookedly on his lips as he casually ruffled his jet black hair. His hazel eyes danced with mischief as they pored into hers. Lily quickly looked away and continued her furious attempt to haul her trunk onboard.

'Come on Evans, let me get that for you'

'No really, I-'

But he was already lifting her trunk onboard with ease. Lily could see the muscles in his arms tense through his tight t-shirt. She blushed and pretended that she hadn't noticed.

'Er, thanks' she mumbled, feeling slightly disgruntled.

'It's a pleasure as always Miss Evans' He gave her a nod and a self-assured wink before continuing down the aisle to meet the rest of his so-called 'Marauders' leaving Lily staring after him.

She was visited by a strong desire to hit something.

**Please review, it would be a big help!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's Chapter 2 - Hope you enjoy it! I don't own anything.**

James Potter was used to being adored. It was an unavoidable by-product of being an only child, one of the Marauders and, of course, Gryffindor's quidditch hero. He was showered with compliments wherever he went and yet there was something at the back of his mind which had been bothering him all summer. Truthfully, it had been bothering him for years.

Lily Evans.

'_What was it about her?_' He thought to himself as he walked towards his compartment. He stole a brief glance over his shoulder and found, to his surprise, that Lily was still gazing after him, with a thoughtful expression on her pretty face.

Their eyes met and James watched with great satisfaction as a crimson blush blossomed across her already rosy cheeks, in beautiful contrast to her pale complexion. She abruptly turned away from him and over-balanced slightly, gripping the door of the nearest compartment for support. Catching herself, Lily straightened and regained her posture before briskly marching off in what was clearly intended to be a dignified manner.

Chuckling to himself, James continued to walk down the train and for once he was barely aware of the greetings of his classmates, the snide remarks from the Slytherins or the flirtatious smiles of his many admirers. Instead he was recalling the first time he had met Lily on this very train, the first time he had asked her out, the first time she had rejected him and of course the countless other times after that.

But James wasn't fazed by this. The exchange they had shared only moments ago had confirmed something that he had been considering for quite some time now. There was something between them, a connection of some kind, which even Lily couldn't fail to notice. She made him feel the way no other girl could and that was not something he was going to give up on easily. It wasn't just some typical adolescent infatuation either, though of course it had started that way. No, over the years his feelings for Lily had deepened and now he genuinely cared for her. Of course, there was no way he could ever confide this in his friends, they just wouldn't understand, nor could he ever tell her his true feelings because, well, he was James Potter after all.

He had only one year left with Lily Evans but this year something was significantly different.

There was something that would ensure they would be spending considerably more time together and that, he thought smugly, would undoubtedly work in his favour.

He had a plan.

Xxx

Lily swore internally as she strode towards the Prefect's compartment replaying the painful moments with Potter in her head again and again. Not only had she made a fool of herself by nearly breaking her ankle, but he had actually caught her _staring_ at him. As if his ego wasn't big enough.

She nearly knocked down two small first years as she thundered further and further up the train, further and further away from Potter.

Lily forced herself to slow down, breathe deeply and count to ten.

_Calm…_

'_What was it about him?'_ she asked herself. What exactly was it about him that got right under her skin and never failed to wind her up?

She stopped at the sight of a fellow prefect, who was leaning casually against the door frame to their compartment. He looked troubled about something, not to mention tired, his eyebrows were pulled into a deep frown and heavy, dark circles lay underneath his soft brown eyes.

'Remus!' He gave her a warm, genuine smile which smoothed his features, making him look more at ease.

'How are you Lily, or should I say Head Girl?' he asked, gesturing at the gleaming badge attached to the front of her robes.

Lily giggled.

'I'm fine, thanks'. She glanced at his jumper and was rather disappointed. There was no Head Boy badge there.

'You're not-'

'No, unfortunately' Lily was surprised to see he was grinning sheepishly.

'Oh, I'm sorry' she mumbled. As Gryffindor prefects they had spent plenty of time on duty together and Lily had grown to enjoy his company. He was charming, polite and honest, quite the gentleman; compared to the riffraff he hung around with anyway…

'Not to worry' he added 'I'm sure the new Head Boy will be, er, an _interesting_ addition to our prefect body.'

Lily tilted her head to one side, her emerald eyes narrowed slightly. Why were his eyes twinkling back at her like that? What was she missing?

'Remus…?'

But he merely shook his head lightly, slid open the compartment door and gestured for her to enter.

Lily did so, still eyeing Remus suspiciously. A fleeting glance of the interior told her that the rest of the prefects were all present and that only the Head Boy seemed to be missing.

That seemed a little unpunctual, she thought, frowning.

The prefects were all looking at her expectantly, with the exception of the Slytherins, who were glancing around the compartment as though bored.

Lily cleared her throat.

'Good morning. As many of you know my name is Lily Evans and I will be your Head Girl for this year. Before we begin distributing duties, I would just like to say that I am looking forward to working closely with each of you-'

She ignored a snort from the Slytherin side of the compartment.

'-and hope we can work together to create _positive_ inter-house relationships' she added with a little more force than necessary.

'Also I would like to remind you that you are all entitled to the use of the prefects' bathrooms located on the fifth floor. The new password is Grindy-_low_'.

Her voice faltered as the door had slid open once more. There stood a tall, broad shouldered, muscular figure with ruffled black hair and an impish smile recognisable anywhere.

There was no mistaking the shiny head boy badge on his chest.

'All right Evans? We have got to stop meeting like this.'

This could _not_ be happening…

Xxx

James leant casually against the wooden door frame and savoured the scene before him.

The moment could not have been more perfect.

Moony rolled his eyes at him from across the compartment with an amused smile.

James raised his eyebrows boldly at Lily. She gazed back at him almost gormlessly, her eyes wide with shock, her mouth slightly open in disbelief.

Her face was an absolute picture.

Smirking, he slid the door shut behind him.

Yes, there was something different about this year. Something which would ensure they would be spending a lot more time together.

_'And that'_ thought James, as he sunk into his seat next to the bewildered Head Girl, '_was going to make this year a hell of a lot of fun.'_

**_Please leave me a review. It would be really helpful :)_**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 - As usual I don't own anything.**

'Potter?'

'Yes'

'James Potter?'

'Yeah'

'Seriously, James Potter?'

'That's what I said'

'James 'we-are-not-worthy' Potter?'

'YES!'

'Whoa' Marlene sighed as she twirled her hair around her wand thoughtfully.

'How? Why?'

'Believe me, I have no idea'.

After patrolling the Hogwarts Express for the remainder of the journey, Lily had finally caught up with Marlene in the Great Hall after the Sorting.

'But he's so, he's just so…'

'I know'. The very idea of James Potter, one of the biggest pranksters in the school, in a position of power with the ability to influence so many students…what had Dumbledore been thinking?

Before Lily had a chance to ponder this further, the headmaster himself got to his feet and raised his arms for silence. The buzz of the Great Hall died away.

'It is my great pleasure to welcome you to another year at Hogwarts…'

_I mean surely there must have been better candidates, Remus for one…_

'I hope that your summers were enjoyable and that you return to us well rested and prepared for the year ahead…'

…_Dumbledore must have had his reasons, surely, I mean it's not as though the boy isn't intelligent…_

'…and before we begin tonight's feast I must ask you…'

…_and of course he is a little better than the average quidditch player…_

'…out of bounds as ever…'

…_plus he has the infuriating knack of wrapping teachers around his little finger…_

'…commencing one week from today. Now I think that your rumbling stomachs have suffered for long enough…'

…_not totally unattractive…_

'Tuck in.'

Lily was surprised as the golden plates around her filled with delicious food. She had been deep in thought. She was even more surprised to find that Dumbledore had stopped talking and she could not remember a word he had said. Since when did she not pay attention? Forget that, since when did she not pay attention because of Potter?

Shaking herself mentally, Lily reached across the table and began helping herself to roast potatoes.

'You Ok, Lils? You're awfully quiet.'

Close as they were, Lily would rather play exploding snap with the whomping willow than tell Marlene what she had just been thinking.

Putting on her best smile she answered:

'Never better. Just glad to be back'.

Xxx

'And then you should have seen her face!' chortled James as Sirius and Remus roared with laughter.

'Ahem'. James turned to find a less-than-impressed Lily glaring at him, arms folded.

'Lily pad! So nice to see you, looking lovely as always!'

'Sirius' she acknowledged him 'Still as slippery as ever'.

'Ah you know you love it really,' he winked, returning to his pudding. The corners of her mouth twitched slightly.

'So Evans, how can we help you?' asked James, his hand automatically reaching for his hair. He couldn't help but admire her tall, slender figure as she drew herself to her full height and uncrossed her arms.

'I just came to give you a copy of the prefect rota and to tell you that the password to the Head's common room is-' she lowered her voice as Sirius tilted his head in their direction, '-Bezoar'.

James' fingers brushed her hand as he took the schedule from her and pretended to examine it.

'Thank you very much Miss Evans'. She returned his smile briefly and began to turn away.

'Wait!' he called 'Er, do you want the last piece of treacle tart? I know it's your favourite.'

A look of surprise flittered across her face as she accepted with a murmur of thanks.

'See you around then Evans'

'Yeah, see you Potter'.

He watched as she walked between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables to rejoin Marlene.

'_I know it's your favourite?'_ mimicked Sirius, his face alight with mischief.

'What? It is…'

'Prongs, you may as well have stood up and serenaded her with a few verses of Celestina Warbeck!'

James snorted and then turned his attention to Remus.

'Was it really that obvious?'

Remus smiled at him kindly.

'I'm sure she appreciated the-'

'_Oh come and stir my cauldron…'_

'-the thought' Remus shouted to be heard over Sirius' booming voice, 'I'm sure she appreciated the thought'.

'I mean, I know what she thinks,' James muttered, 'I just wanted to show her that I'm not a total-'

'_Boil you up some hot, strong love…'_

'Enough!' James shouted, shoving a jam tart into Sirius' open mouth, enjoying himself a little too much as he spluttered.

'Guess I deserved that,' Sirius grinned, brushing the crumbs off his robes.

Hush descended on the Great Hall once more as Dumbledore dismissed them.

James strode over to where Lily was gathering together first years.

'Ready to go?'

She nodded and they made their way into the well lit Entrance Hall, the first years scurrying behind them to keep up.

Sirius, Remus and Peter overtook them on the staircase.

The sound of Sirius whistling 'A cauldron full of hot, strong love' was unmistakable.

**What did you think? Please review.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Here's chapter 4, hope you enjoy it! Please, please, please let me know what you think and give a little review, Cheers.**

'Watch out for the trick step, it's the eighth one up'.

'Second corridor to the left, before the painting of Wendelin the Weird'.

'Keep an eye out for Peeves, he hides in these suits of armour'.

'It's the next right, if you go pass the tapestry of the dancing trolls you've gone too far'.

Lily couldn't help but smile as she and James shouted directions and tips over their shoulders to the steady trail of bewildered first years behind them. They all looked rather overwhelmed and Lily wondered how much of this they would actually remember.

Besides, you didn't learn your way around Hogwarts by following instructions. You found it out by taking the wrong turns, stumbling across shorts cuts and getting completely and utterly lost. She gazed thoughtfully at her surroundings, reminiscing.

'You ok Evans?'

'Yeah just thinking-'

'About me?'

She turned to face him, feeling irritated.

'Potter…' she growled.

'C'mon Evans we both know you can't resist me…'

'Oh yeah, _that's_ why I've been rejecting you for the past-' she stopped abruptly as she realised twenty curious first years were listening to their conversation.

'We'll finish this later' she murmured.

'I'll look forward to it.'

Just when she thought there was a slight possibility that James Potter could be a decent human being… she sighed deeply and they continued up the staircase in silence.

As they reached the seventh floor, Lily performed a quick headcount to ensure all the first years had kept up. She really didn't fancy explaining to Professor McGonagall that she had lost a number of new Gryffindors on her first day as Head Girl.

James rolled his eyes dramatically at her worried expression.

The portrait of the Fat Lady was visible by the flickering light of the torches which lined the walls.

'Password?'

'Boomslang'

'Right you are my dear'

She swung forwards to reveal the entrance to the Gryffindor common room.

'After you, Evans' James winked.

Lily rolled her eyes. Since when did he act like a gentleman?

The cosy common room looked as inviting as ever and the room was filled with the chatter and laughter of the students.

Lily waved at Marlene who was sitting by the fire with a group of their friends.

She turned to address the first years.

'We'll show you to your dormitories. Boys go with James, girls follow me.'

As they parted to climb separate staircases, James' voice echoed loudly off the high ceiling.

'I know what you're thinking lads, but don't even try to get up to the girls dorms. The stairs turn into a kind of slide and you'll end up whacking your head on that wall' he rubbed his head gingerly and winced 'Trust me, it's not worth it.'

With one last grin at Lily, he turned and disappeared into the boys' dormitories.

xxx

'Alright Lils?' Marlene asked as Lily threw herself into the empty armchair next to her.

'That bloody James Potter…'

Their friends Alice and Lizzy, who were sitting next to them, broke off from their game of chess to look at her with interest.

'What's he done now?' asked Alice sympathetically. She had short brown hair which hung in a loose bob cut, framing her soft, round face.

'Only gone and got Head Boy hasn't he?' Lily groaned.

'What?' cried Lizzy.

'I know, I couldn't believe it either' added Marlene, who still looked flabbergasted.

Lizzy was now looking from Lily to Marlene in disbelief.

'But, what…how?'

'Exactly'

'I'm sure that Dumbledore knows what he's doing…' Alice said uncertainly, chewing her lip.

'That or he's developed a warped sense of humour in his old age'.

The girls considered this for a few moments before Lily derailed their trains of thought-

'And you know what the worst part is? I have to practically live with him for the next year. We're sharing the Head's common room! His arrogant face is going to be the first thing I see every morning and the last thin-'

'Should my ears be burning?'

James and Sirius were leaning against the back of Lily's armchair.

Lily spluttered 'Oh, er…Hi.'

'See that Padfoot, speechless in my presence'.

Marlene and Lizzy burst out laughing and Lily blushed furiously.

'Surely, you shouldn't say things like that in front of your boyfriend, Potter!'

Sirius roared with laughter.

'As much as I love you Prongs, that is one line I will not cross'.

James put a hand over his heart.

'I'm hurt Evans, genuinely hurt,' he wiped away an imaginary tear.

'Anyway, we just stopped by to invite you ladies to a…small gathering of sophisticated people such as yourselves-'

'A party?'

'True, there will be delights that one would traditionally associate with a 'party' food, music, general merriment-'

Lily snorted.

'Get to the point Potter'.

'Now, now my fiery redhead' his eyes gleamed with mischief. 'We were merely inviting you to an innocent get together to celebrate two gorgeous Gryffindors getting Head boy and girl. Saturday night at eight in the Head's common room.'

'You're inviting me to a party in my own common room?' she fumed.

'Why yes Evans, I do believe I am' he smirked.

'You know what Potter? You think that you're so big and clever, a big quidditch hero and huge prankster but really you're just a spoilt, pathetic little boy and so you can shove your stupid party up your-'

'We'll be there' cut in Marlene.

'Yeah, count us in' added Lizzy.

'Thank you ladies' said Sirius, who had been doubled over in silent laughter at Lily's speech. 'Nice to see some of you have some manners.'

Lily glared at them as they walked away.

'What did you go and say that for?' Lily shot at Marlene.

'Ah come on Lils, they're not that bad…'

'Not that bad? Did you not hear-'

'Lily you know Potter just acts like an idiot around you 'cos he fancies you. He was my partner in charms all last year, he's actually a pretty decent guy. Just give him a chance'

Lily sat in silence, still fuming though feeling slightly foolish at her outburst.

'C'mon Lils, calm down. It's only a party. You might even have some fun.'

**Got 10 seconds? Please let me know what you think and press the little review button. You'll make my day!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Here's Chapter 5 and I hope that you're enjoying it so far. Thank you for reading and for the lovely reviews. As always let me know what you think. **

'This place is amazing' James sighed as he entered the Head's common room for the first time.

'A total babe magnet' grinned Sirius, admiring his surroundings.

'Is that really all you think about, Padfoot?' Remus sounded half-exasperated, half-amused.

'Not all I think about, I mean there's food and stuff…'

Remus snorted and went to examine the bookcase at the back of the room.

'So you're really going to be living here with Lily?' Peter asked 'Just the two of you?'

'Yeah, I guess…'

Truthfully, living with Lily Evans had been the only thing James could think about.

'It's pretty cosy in here Prongs,' Sirius' voice trailed off suggestively 'You never know what might happen…'

'Ah, shut up' James chucked a cushion at him, unable to suppress a smile. 'I've asked her out a million times and well, you know, so I've decided to back off for a bit…'

Remus looked up from the book he was examining, eyebrows raised.

'Don't tell me you've given up?'

'No, not given up just…' he broke off, looking at the piece of parchment in his hand. 'Ah crap, you guys better get going, Lily's heading this way. You're not _technically_ supposed to be in here after hours.'

Sirius got to his feet and let out a cough which sounded remarkably like '_Whipped!_'

'Is she really going to be ok with the party here next weekend?' Peter asked timidly.

'She, no well I-I'll work on it'.

'You'd better do! Cattermole reckons he could smuggle us some firewhiskey and I know plenty of girls who'd be more than happy to-'

'-Yeah yeah I get the idea Padfoot'

'Mind if I borrow this?' Remus held up a book.

'Sure, whatever' James ushered them out of the common room 'Here take this' he threw the silvery invisibility cloak out after them.

He watched as the three of them struggled to cover themselves.

Sirius' voice drifted eerily back along the corridor as if detached from its owner.

'Good luck Prongs, don't do anything I wouldn't do.'

xxx

Lily thought she heard voices as she climbed the stairs towards the common room but as she turned onto the corridor she found it to be deserted.

She felt a strange draft as she approached the end of the corridor, as if someone had brushed past her.

The portrait of a young girl hung on the wall. Upon seeing Lily, she stopped collecting daisies and stared at her with round, innocent eyes.

'Password?' she asked sweetly.

'Bezoar'

As Lily climbed through the portrait hole she felt her jaw drop.

'Wow' she sighed.

'I know!'

Lily jumped at the sound of the voice, she had presumed the quiet room to be empty.

'Don't do that Potter!'

'Do what?'

'Scare me like that, I nearly fainted!'

'Aww c'mon Evans, we both know I make you feel light headed.'

'Nauseous, more like' she mumbled.

She turned away from him to gaze around the room. It was a perfect circle, held up by marble pillars. The last of the evening sunshine pored in through the arch shaped windows, basking the room in a golden glow. James got up from one of the plush sofas in the centre of the room.

'Fancy a look around?'

In addition to the large common room they found two identical bedrooms, each complete with an en-suite bathroom and stunning views of the grounds.

'Merlin, they don't do things by half, do they?'

Lily shook her head.

'I guess not.'

'Mind if I take this bedroom?' James asked.

'No, why?'

He gestured out of the window. Lily followed his gaze and found that the room looked out onto the quidditch pitch.

'Why do you like it so much?'

'Hmm?'

Lily turned to find him staring at her, apparently lost in thought. Feeling suddenly uncomfortable, she blurted out-

'Quidditch!'

'Quidditch?' he echoed, one eyebrow raised, looking amused.

'Yeah, um, quidditch' she blushed as he started to chuckle. 'The thing is, I don't really understand what all the fuss is-'

'-Evans for a supposedly bright girl you can't half be dim sometimes.'

'But it's just a-'

'-If you say it's just a game I will happily hex you right now.'

Lily tried to look stern but ended up smiling in spite of herself. Did she just giggle? What was going on?

'Go on then 'oh-wise-one', explain it to me.' she challenged.

'Fine' he paused, choosing his words carefully. 'Quidditch is essentially a sport, but it really is so much more than that. When you're flying and so in the moment it's like all of your thoughts, worries, whatever, they all just disappear. The speed and the height are just so exhilarating it's the most incredible sense of freedom. And when you're working a part of team it's almost as if…What? Why are you looking at me like that?'

'Nothing, no reason'.

Lily realised that she must have been staring at him. She had rarely seen him talking about anything so passionately, it made him seem _different_. Less like annoying Potter and more like-

'Lily, are you ok?'

'Yeah sorry' she said, catching herself 'I've never really enjoyed flying that much, I'm kind of scared of heights'.

'Really?'

She squirmed. Why was she telling Potter this? It made no sense.

'It's probably just the muggle side of me.'

'Nah you'd be fine with a bit of proper teaching and training.'

'Easy for you to say, you're a natural on a broomstick! The best captain Gryffindor's had in years!'

'I'm sorry Miss Evans, what did you say?'

'Nothing…'

She regretted the words as soon as she had spoken them.

'Evans, was that a compliment?'

'No.'

'It was wasn't it?'

'No.'

'Evans?'

'Well, I-'

He howled with laughter. 'Never thought I'd see the day…' His face split into a huge grin. He looked annoyingly smug.

'Yeah well, don't get used to it. If your head gets and bigger that poor old broomstick won't be able to lift you off the ground.'

James laughed harder at that, running a hand through his already messed up hair.

'You're a fiery thing aren't you Evans?'

Lily couldn't think of a suitable reply and so looked out of the window again. Darkness had begun to descend on the grounds.

'Well, I better get some sleep before tomorrow.' She headed towards the door.

'Night Evans!' he called.

'Goodnight…Potter'.

**I know not that much happened in this chapter, I just wanted to show them spending some time together. There'll be more going on in the next chapter, promise!**

**Please, please, please give me a little review...I'll love you forever!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry I've taken so long with this chapter, hope you enjoy! Again, I own nothing. As always please review, it'd be lovely to hear from you.**

Lily deliberately woke early the next morning, dressed quickly and rushed out of her room. She dashed across the common room as quietly as she could, cursing loudly as she stubbed her toe on a nearby armchair.

It didn't matter, she told herself whilst limping slightly. It wouldn't matter if she could just reach the portrait hole without waking-

'Morning Evans!'

'Ugh.' _Too late_.

'Ooh somebody's not a morning person,' James teased, closing his bedroom door behind him. 'Why the rush Evans?'

_To avoid seeing your smug face._

'No reason.'

The grin on his face grew wider.

Lily narrowed her eyes.

'What are you so happy about?'

'Do I really need a reason to be happy?'

'I guess not.' She said, still not trusting his coy smile.

He sighed.

'Evans, the sun is shining, the birds are singing and I have the pleasure of your lovely company'.

Lily snorted at that, unable to keep her face straight.

'Seriously Potter, has someone slipped you essence of euphoria?'

He rolled his eyes at that.

'Only you would talk about potions before breakfast.' He tittered appreciatively. 'Speaking of which, fancy grabbing something to eat?'

'With you?'

'Yeah.'

'Don't you think we've seen enough of each other Potter?' He was surprised to find she was smiling. 'I've spent more time with you than Marlene, Lizzy and Alice put together.'

She laughed as she climbed out of the portrait hole.

They walked together in an awkward silence. Few students were up this early and the corridors seemed unnaturally quiet. James turned to find her looking at him.

'See anything you like?' he asked, his eyes twinkling.

'Yes, actually.' She smiled up at his surprised face. 'You've had dried custard in your hair since the feast last night, it's been amusing me for quite a while now.'

She watched with great satisfaction as he rushed to check his reflection in the nearest suit of armour.

_Honestly, he's worse than Marlene_ she thought as he ran his fingers anxiously through his already messy dark hair.

She couldn't resist it any longer.

She burst out laughing as he turned to face her, his hair still sticking out at all angles.

'Got you!' she giggled.

He grinned reluctantly back at her.

'You did not _get_ me.'

'Oh yeah, right.'

'You didn't! I was just, I was just…' he gestured wildly with his hands.

'You were just?'

'I was just playing along…'

'Yeah, yeah. Why don't you just admit it? James 'Prankster-Extraordinaire' Potter just got fooled by a little miss goody-two-shoes.'

Winding Potter up was just too much fun.

He gave up and sighed. 'Blimey, Evans I didn't think you had it in you.'

She giggled again.

'You know what this means though?' he asked, his face turning serious.

'What?'

'I'm very sorry to tell you this Evans, but it means, regretfully, I'm going to have to…get you back!'

He lunged forwards and ruffled her thick red hair until it resembled a bird's nest.

'James Potter you absolute git!' she shouted as she ran after him into the Great Hall. It was relatively empty, a few students were scattered along the house tables.

They headed towards the Gryffindor table to join Sirius, Remus and Lizzy. All three looked up at the sound of their laughter.

Remus looked up from his book, Lizzy stopped spreading jam on her toast and Lily saw them exchange a look of surprise.

Sirius, on the other hand, looked as if Christmas had come early.

'Well, well, well,' he smirked. Lily watched as his eyes travelled from James' messed up hair to her own. 'What _have_ you two been up to?'

Lily felt her face burn as she looked guiltily at James.

Sirius roared with laughter as they tripped over their own words, desperately trying to explain. After a few moments of spluttering Lily gave up, sat down next to a bewildered looking Lizzy and helped herself to some toast.

One thing was certain, it was going to be an interesting day.

xxx

'Tell me again what happened at breakfast, Lizzy said something about custard…'

Lily sighed and hitched her bag further onto her shoulder. She and Marlene were enjoying their free period by taking a leisurely stroll in the grounds.

She quickly relayed the events of that morning and watched Marlene's deep brown eyes grew wider and wider.

'-and then by the time we got to breakfast we both looked ridiculous and then Sirius being Sirius made a stupid joke and the whole thing got blown out of proportion.' She finished as if that settled the matter.

Marlene, however, did not look convinced.

'But why were you messing around with Potter in the first place?'

Lily considered this. 'I don't really know, I guess I just wanted to get him back for all the times he's made a fool of me.'

They sat under a beech tree besides the lake and began to tackle an essay on antidotes which Slughorn had given them that morning.

A few minutes passed by but Marlene seemed to be struggling to concentrate.

'Lils?'

'Hmm?'

'This Marauders party on Saturday…'

'What about it?'

Marlene chewed her lip and tucked a strand of her short, brown hair behind he ear.

'Well you are going along with it aren't you?'

'I-I really don't think-'

'-c'mon Lily this is our last year, how many more chances are we going to get to do something like this?'

Lily groaned. She had a point.

'Well, fine…'

Marlene squealed and gave her a hug.

'You won't regret this!' She beamed. 'It's a shame you couldn't make it to the last one, Sirius ended up skipping down the corridors topless whilst singing 'I'm a little teapot' at the top of his voice, it was hilarious!'

_Lily what have you got yourself into?_

xxx

'Potter, about this party on Saturday, I-I've decided that I'm ok with it…'

James gaped at her, not quite believing what he was hearing.

Sirius dropped the chicken wing he had just been gnawing and pretended to fall out of his seat.

'Really?' asked James.

'Seriously?' cried Sirius, laughing at his own wit.

'Yes.' Lily looked around the Great Hall nervously. 'Look, just don't invite too many people. I really don't want it getting out of control…'

'I wouldn't dream of it Lily-pad!' said Sirius, as a contradictory grin spread across his face.

'Hmm.'

'Lily, relax! It's only a bit of fun and it's only for one night.' James assured her.

She still looked unsure.

'Okay. Potter I'll meet you in the entrance hall at nine for rounds tonight then?'

'It's a date.' He smirked.

'Potter…' she groaned.

'What? It is!'

'The Head boy and girl doing the rounds together hardly classifies as a date!'

'Ok then, why don't we meet up in Hogsmeade for a drink next week and you can tell me what _does_ classify as a date?'

Lily couldn't help but chuckle.

'That really was a pitiful attempt. I'm actually disappointed in you.' She shook her head at him.

'Was that a yes?'

She rolled her eyes.

'See you at nine, Potter.'

**What did you think? Please review.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hi again. A special thanks to cissyb, TheHogwartsActress, Stina0098 and SaraHunterOfArtemius for reviewing, you guys are the best! Anyways hope you like this chapter, feel free to drop me a little review at the end to let me know what you think. Thanks for reading!**

Lily tapped her foot impatiently and glanced down at her watch. Surprise surprise, Potter was late.

The last few students were heading back to their common rooms, their footsteps echoing loudly through the empty entrance hall.

_Twelve minutes late…_

Deciding that she would catch up with Potter later, Lily began climbing the staircase and headed towards the first floor. She wished that Remus was here, he always made rounds more bearable and she really enjoyed the long discussions they had. He was such a genuinely nice person.

_Plus he always managed to turn up on time…_

Lily passed through the deserted corridors feeling uneasy. Maybe she was just being paranoid but she couldn't shake off the unnerving feeling that she was being watched. Only the whispers of the portraits disturbed the silence and the eerie sound made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

Maybe she should just turn back and look for Potter-

_Crash!_

Lily spun around, drawing her wand instinctively and pointing it at the dark mass at the end of the corridor. A tall figure was getting up off the floor, the suit of armour they had presumably knocked over lay at their feet.

As Lily drew closer she began to make out the features of the young girl stood in front of her. She had frizzy, dirty blonde hair which didn't quite reach her shoulders, a heavy jaw and wore glasses which rested on her pointy nose. Her sharp features were arranged into a scowl.

Lily recognised her at once.

'What are you doing here?' she asked.

'None of your business, Evans!' the girl spat.

'Well unfortunately for you it is my business _Skeeter_.' Lily's voice hardened. 'If you're out of bed at night then it's my responsibility to-'

'-listen to you 'my responsibility' sneered Rita Skeeter. 'You swan around the school flaunting that badge thinking you're better than the rest of us when everyone knows you're just a jumped up muggleborn-'

'I'll thank you to leave my blood status out of this' Lily said coldly.

Rita drew herself to her full height and looked menacing. Lily held her gaze, she was going to stand her ground, she wasn't about to be pushed around by some-

'Hey, what's going on?'

Lily sighed. For the first time in her life she was happy to hear that voice.

'Everything ok?' James asked as he glanced from Lily to Rita and back again.

Lily opened her mouth to answer but Rita cut across her.

'Everything's fine thanks James.' She said sweetly, twirling her hair around her claw-like nails. 'Lily and I just had a little…misunderstanding.' She shot Lily a filthy look.

'Er-ok then.' James said uncertainly, returning her flirtatious smile. Lily watched in disgust as Rita battered her false eyelashes at James and carried on talking to him in a sickly sweet voice. It was extremely irritating.

'Rita was just leaving.' Lily said abruptly. 'It's time she was getting back to her common room.' She turned towards Rita. 'I'll speak to Professor McGonagall to arrange your detention.'

Rita narrowed her eyes at Lily.

'Fine!' she snapped. 'See you around James.' She touched his arm lightly before stalking away from them.

James turned to face Lily. 'What was all that about?'

'No idea.' She shrugged. 'She was sneaking around up here and then when I confronted her she just started hurling insults at me.'

'Yeah, you seemed to be handling it pretty well though.' James winked at her.

'Thanks. Nice of you to turn up by the way.'

He grinned at her sheepishly.

'Yeah, sorry about that.'

'Let me guess…were you too busy answering your fan mail? Or did Sirius need help curling his hair?'

'Ouch!' James pretended to look hurt. 'Come on Evans, what if I was late because I was volunteering at the hospital wing or tutoring first years or…campaigning for elf rights?'

'And were you?'

'What?'

'Were you late for one of those _noble_ reasons?'

'Well, no-'

Lily laughed out loud.

'Typical Potter. What was it, did Mel Armstrong need a new snogging partner?'

James rolled his eyes and shook his head at her.

They walked on in silence for a few minutes.

'There is one thing though.' Lily mused.

'Yes Miss Evans?'

'How did you know where to find me? I'd been walking for ages before you turned up.'

'I was just looking for you and I heard voices so…' a guilty expression flitted across his face as he put his hand in his pocket. He was hiding something.

'Potter…'

'Evans…'

'What's in your pocket?'

'Nothing.'

She raised her eyebrows at him.

'Accio!'

A piece of folded parchment zoomed into her outstretched hand. Lily unfolded it and found, to her disappointment, it was blank.

James was grinning at her.

'See?' he said but Lily continued to eye him suspiciously.

'Evans, I solemnly swear to you it's just a bit of spare parchment.'

'Ok, whatever you say Potter.' She smiled at him. 'So if it's just a piece of parchment you don't mind if I…burn it?' She held it up to one of the flaming torches.

'No!'

She pulled it away from the flames.

'Will you please just tell me what this is? Please Potter?

He looked torn.

'Please, I won't tell anyone, I'm just curious.'

She looked at him pleadingly.

'Please…James?'

He looked both surprised and pleased at the use of his first name.

'Ugh fine.' He gave in. 'But Sirius is gonna be mad.'

xxx

They arrived back at the Heads' common room an hour later feeling exhausted.

'That map really is something, you know.' Lily said for the third time that night. 'It's really advanced magic.'

'Always the tone of surprise.' James grinned. 'I've been trying to tell you for years, I'm more than just a pretty face!' He joked.

'And if I haven't said it before, you really are too modest.' She grinned back at him.

She yawned loudly.

'I better get some sleep. Goodnight James.'

'Night…Lily.'

Xxx

James watched her go and threw himself into a plush armchair.

Wow. Lily Evans had just called him 'James'. Not only that, Lily Evans had called him 'James' for the second time in the past hour. He smiled to himself. It had been a good day.

'Bloody hell Prongs, did she just call you James?'

James nearly fell out of his chair as Sirius jumped up behind him.

'Jesus! You almost gave me a heart attack.'

Sirius grinned widely. 'You have _got_ to tell me what happened.'

James sighed as his best friend raised his eyebrows suggestively. Where to begin?

**So...what did you think? Love it, hate it?**

**Also, which house do you think Rita Skeeter belongs to? I was really struggling to sort her in this chapter so in the end I gave up. I'm torn between Ravenclaw and Slytherin because she seems hardworking, witty and pretty intelligent but then she's also cunning, sly and ambitious...opinions please? **

**Thanks for reading!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello! Welcome to chapter 8. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter- thebiggestpotterfreak, cissyb, Stina0098 & TheHogwartsActress, it's lovely to hear from you. Thanks also for your suggestions about Rita's house, I've finally decided and you'll find out in chapter 10. Also a MASSIVE thank you to the wonderful Slytherin Rose Weasley who's practically been my Beta for this story! **

**TheHogwartsActress: I've put a lot more Sirius in this chapter, hope you like it :)**

**Don't forget to leave me a little review at the end, I love getting them! This chapter's a bit longer than usual but never mind, enjoy!**

'I'm just saying it's Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs- there's no Evans in there…'Sirius moaned.

Remus chuckled. Sirius' little 'episodes' always amused him.

'Look mate, I didn't have much choice and it's not as if we can't trust her.' James reasoned.

'I bet she just battered her long eyelashes and looked at you with those puppy dog eyes…' His voice trailed off, though his face had a shadow of his mischievous grin on it.

They were lounging underneath their favourite tree by the lake, making the most of their free period by doing homework in the autumn sunshine.

'What did she think of the map?' squeaked Peter anxiously.

'She was actually pretty impressed.' James said, running a hand through his hair. 'She didn't seem to think we're actually capable of doing anything worthwhile when we get together.'

'Can you blame her?' asked Remus, looking up from his book. 'She still hasn't forgotten the shaving hex incident.'

James winced. 'She knew I was aiming for Snivellus and besides her hair grew back eventually…'

Sirius roared with laughter at the memory.

'You've cheered up.' James acknowledged grumpily.

'Yeah well, not even you Prongs could look a bald Lily Evans in the eye and keep a straight face.' Sirius' eyes twinkled.

James smirked involuntarily. He was right.

'I guess it's not so bad, Evans knowing…' Sirius muttered. 'Just as long as she doesn't start disappearing under the cloak or transforming at the full moon.'

Remus shuddered.

'So are you taking Lily to the party on Saturday, Prongs?' Peter asked.

'Erm, well- no.' James stuttered ' I'm not _taking_ her, but you know, we're both going to be there and so…

'-and so he'll be there to turn on the charm-eau-prongs.' Smirked Sirius. 'That reminds me, I need to invite Mel Armstrong.'

Remus shook his head not taking his eyes off the parchment in front of him.

'What about you Wormy?' James teased. 'Got your eye on anyone?'

Peter turned a brilliant shade of beetroot and mumbled something unintelligible.

'Excellent!' Sirius' eyes gleamed. 'Who is she Wormy? Come on now don't be shy, we don't bite, do we Moony?' He flashed Remus a toothy grin.

'I've never heard that one before…' Remus smiled, his voice thick with sarcasm.

'Or do we have to hex it out you, eh?'

'Leave him be, Padfoot.' Remus warned. 'Not everyone is as…complacent as you about this kind of thing.'

James laughed. 'Complacent? Not the word I would have used…'Man-slag' is probably more accurate.'

'Yeah, yeah.' Sirius rolled his eyes playfully.

xxx

The darkness engulfed Lily and her classmates as they headed into the dungeons for an afternoon of potions.

'Oho!' cried Slughorn jovially, as he threw open the classroom door and welcomed them inside. 'Jolly good to see you all again, excellent!' He clapped his hands. 'Ogden m'boy, how is your uncle? I haven't heard from him since he got the promotion! Can't say I'm surprised, have you spoken to him recently?'

Lily sighed. Slughorn was always drawn to those with status or power of some kind. _Like a moth to a flame_. Still, she couldn't help but feel just a little bit pleased to be part of his exclusive little 'club'. After all, she was muggleborn; Slughorn wasn't interested in her connections or wealth. She'd got there on her own merits, she thought proudly.

'Right,' Slughorn rubbed his hands together. 'Kindly get out your copies of Advanced Potion Making and listen carefully.' He paused as the class scrambled to get their textbooks.

'After reviewing last year's work something has come to my attention. Whilst many of you continue to make exceptional progress-' he gave Lily a small wink, '_Others_, seem to be getting rather…distracted.' He looked up to see James and Sirius having a silent but ferocious battle with a pair of fake wands.

'In light of which, I have devised a new seating plan-' the class let out an audible groan, '-and I will be placing you into pairs'.

Lily looked at Marlene miserably. They were both model students, so maybe Slughorn would let them stay together. Marlene shrugged back at her. It seemed unlikely.

Slughorn produced a list and began reading.

'Let's see, Spinnet and Hopkirk.' He pointed to a bench. 'Lupin and Jones, Avery and Fawcett, Mulciber and Longbottom, McKinnon and Black, Bones and Peakes, Evans and Jackson, and Snape and Potter.'

James swore loudly.

'Bad luck Prongs.' Sirius patted him on the back, looking sympathetic although he was still unable to supress a small smile at James' expression.

'S'alright for you.' He whined, 'And you Moony-' he said accusingly '-your partners are both normal…and use shampoo regularly.'

'You'll just have to manage.' Remus sighed apologetically.

James slumped on the desk.

'Just think about it, if you're sitting next to him it'll be so much easier to actually hit him with that shaving hex this time!' Sirius teased as he grabbed his bag and went to join a very flushed looking Marlene.

'Settle down.' Slughorn called. 'Please turn to page ten. In today's lesson we will be revisiting last year's work on the Draught of Living Death. In your pairs you will work together to concoct the potion. You have-' he checked his pocket watch, '-one hour. Good luck and start brewing!'

Lily moved her things to her side of the bench as her partner took his seat next to her.

'Hi, I don't think we've been introduced.' He held out his hand. 'I'm Christopher Jackson. Call me Chris, everyone does.'

Lily shook his hand and smiled at him warmly. He was tall with long, sandy hair and soft, friendly features.

'Lily Evans.'

'Of course.' He smiled back at her. 'Everyone knows who you are. You're really- Hey!'

A small, scrunched up piece of paper had hit him hard on the back of the head. Both Chris and Lily turned to see where it had come from. James Potter was standing a little way behind them and looking a little too innocent.

'I'll go and get the ingredients shall I?' Chris headed for the store cupboard.

Lily narrowed her eyes.

'Psst, what did you do that for?' Lily hissed at James.

'Don't know what you're talking about.' He replied, not meeting her gaze.

Lily sighed irritably, and turned around quickly before Severus could catch her eye. _That was the last thing she needed right now._

Chris returned with the ingredients and they began brewing the potion. Whilst Lily found the familiar instructions relatively easy, others seemed to be having a few problems.

'It. Just. Won't. Stay. Still.' Chris muttered as he chased his Sopophorous bean around the desk with his knife.

'Here.' Lily passed him her silver dagger. 'Try crushing it with this, it releases the juice so much better.'

Out of the corner of her eye, Lily saw Severus begin scribbling furiously in his textbook.

'Wow,' sighed Chris as the potion turned the perfect shade of lilac. 'How did you know that would work?'

She shrugged. 'Just something I discovered last time.'

Lily found Chris was easy to talk to, they chatted easily about classes, friends, exams and nothing in particular until the end of the lesson.

'Well, it's been lovely talking to you Lily.' He winked at her cheekily. 'I'll look forward to next lesson.'

'Yeah, bye Chris.'

She watched him join a group of his friends and head up the stairs.

Lily waited for Marlene to catch up with her.

'Hey!' Marlene called. 'Wasn't that a great lesson? It was so much fun. Sirius is an absolute riot! We were cutting the beans up and he said he'd eaten one whole before, and then I said 'Seriously?' and he said 'I _am_ Sirius!' and then-'

'-Marlene?'

'Yes?'

'Do you, I can't believe I'm saying this, do you _like_ Sirius Black?'

'Well…maybe.'

'Marlene!'

'What?'

Lily groaned.

'You know what Sirius is like though! He's just so-just so…'

'Handsome? Charming? Lovable?' They turned to find Sirius, James and Remus standing right behind them. Marlene blushed furiously as Sirius winked at her.

Lily turned to smile at James, but found he was avoiding her gaze.

'James?' He still wouldn't look at her. 'Oi, Potter! What's your problem?'

The corners of his mouth twitched very slightly. He met her gaze then sighed deeply.

'Nothing. I just had to endure an hour of Snivellus and I'm not in the best mood.'

That made sense, Lily thought. She was surprised Slughorn had partnered them up, it wasn't exactly a secret that they loathed each other. She gave him a sympathetic smile and touched his arm.

'You seemed to be getting pretty friendly with Jackson.' He accused.

'Yeah, he seems like a nice guy.' She replied uncertainly, unsure why his voice was so bitter.

'I bet he does.'

xxx

'And then I'm stuck with slimy old _Snivellus_ while Jackson gets cosy to her all lesson! I thought Ravenclaws were supposed to be smart, he looks like he hasn't got two brain cells to rub together. And what's with his hair? It looks like a toilet brush…'

James kept up his constant stream of insults as they headed towards the Great Hall for dinner.

'and he better not come on Saturday, that's all I need…seeing him flirting with Lily for the whole damn party-ouch!'

He stopped talking abruptly as Sirius thumped him on the arm.

'What was that f-'

Sirius nodded to his left, where someone was standing in the shadows.

Severus Snape had a horrible smirk plastered across his pale, sallow face. James was positive he had heard every single word.

**Soooo...what did you think? Was it what you expected? I think you should let me know by pressing the review button...**

**If you have any ideas/criticisms/questions for me I'd love to hear them too. Until next time...**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hello again, here's chapter 9. A special thanks to TaylorLautnerIsMyHomeboy, Crazy Coffee Lady, clovetf, TheHogwartsActress and Slytherin Rose Weasley for their reviews and feedback for the last chapter. I love hearing from you guys, keep the reviews coming!**

**Thank you so much for following this story so far, it really means a lot. Hope you like this new chapter, it's a lot longer than usual! F****asten your seatbelts it's party time...**

Lily knocked tentatively on the wooden door, knowing what was waiting for her on the other side.

Excited squeals came from within and the door flew open. Lily couldn't help but giggle. Marlene was standing in front of her wearing a fluffy pink dressing gown with her hair tightly bound in curlers. She was armed with a toothbrush. The look was completed with a pair of bunny slippers.

'Very attractive.' Lily snorted. 'Is that your outfit for tonight?'

Marlene grinned and rolled her eyes at her best friend's sense of humour. Alice and Lizzy both greeted her briefly as and quickly returned to their beauty regimes.

Lily looked around her old dormitory with a sense of nostalgia. It seemed so long ago since she had been here.

She checked her watch. _4 o'clock._ 'Erm, guys? Why are we getting ready so early? The party's not for another four hours…'

All three stopped what they were doing to stare at her in disbelief. Lily got the feeling she was missing something painfully obvious.

'You can't rush perfection, these things take time.' Lizzy winked at her.

'Besides I have to wait…two hours for this potion to start working.' Alice said as she examined her bottle of Sleakeazy. 'I just hope Frank likes it…'

Marlene shook her head. 'Alice that boy is in love with you. His face lights up when you walk in a room, whether you've got straight hair or not.'

'She's right.' Lily added. Anyone could see those two were made for each other. Alice's face glowed pink.

'I just miss him so much when he's not around.' Alice said in a small voice. 'If anything happened to him, I don't know what I'd do.'

'That is so sweet Ali!' Lizzy went to hug her. Lily and Marlene exchanged a look of surprise. Alice very rarely admitted her true feelings, even to her closest friends.

Talk between them quickly turned to boys as they discussed tactics for Sirius and Marlene.

'You don't want to be too forward with him.' Alice mused. 'God knows he has enough girls fawning over him as it is…'

'But you can't act too detached with him either.' Lily added. 'Or he will get bored, this _is_ Sirius after all.'

'Maybe you should make him a cake?' Lizzy suggested. 'You know what he's like with food. The way to his heart is _definitely_ through his stomach.'

'So in conclusion, I have to somehow show him I'm interested but not imply that I am a tart and at the same time play a little hard to get without acting too aloof and possibly throw some cake in there too?' Marlene asked, sounding a little hysterical now.

'Pretty much!' They collapsed into fits of giggles. It sounded ridiculous.

'I thought you were bringing your stuff to get ready here Lils?' Lizzy asked.

'I did.' Lily replied holding up a small red bag. Marlene eyed it sceptically and rooted through its contents.

'Your school skirt, really?' She asked.

Lily shrugged. 'What else would I wear?'

Marlene looked desperately from Lizzy to Alice and back again. They nodded simultaneously. Before Lily knew what was happening she was being forced into a chair and attacked with perfume, make up and some kind of powder which made her sneeze.

An hour later they stepped back to admire their work.

Marlene nodded at the other two approvingly. 'Perfect.' She said, laughing as Lily sulked.

'C'mon Lils, have a look, it's not that bad.'

Lily turned grudgingly to face the mirror. Her thick, red hair fell in elegant curls onto her shoulders, her emerald green eyes were framed by eyeliner and the pale pink blusher on her cheeks complimented her fair skin. She was wearing a lacy black top and jeans which emphasised her long, slender legs.

'Well?' Marlene asked expectantly.

'I love it.' Lily mumbled, with a reluctant smile.

Her friends exchanged smug, satisfied looks until-

'Oh God! Less than three hours to get ready!'

xxx

'What time is it?' Sirius asked lazily.

'S'bout half seven.' James mumbled.

'Party starts in about half an hour.'

'Mmm probably should go change.'

'Yeah probably.'

'Yeah.'

Neither of them moved.

xxx

Remus paused, wondering how best to arrange the sweets he and Peter had smuggled from Honeydukes cellar a few hours earlier.

'Moony, does this look ok?' Remus turned to find James looking very uncomfortable. He wore a plain white shirt and casual looking jeans. His hair was dripping wet at the back as if he had tried, in vain, to flatten it.

Remus nodded. 'Yes, it looks fine.'

'Very handsome.' Sirius smirked. 'If I was an attractive Headgirl…I'd go after you myself.' He winked.

'What about you Wormy? Will your mystery woman be attending tonight?' James teased. Peter blushed and dropped the glass he was holding.

'That means yes.' Sirius said and they roared with laughter.

Remus pointed his wand at the fragments of broken glass and muttered 'Reparo' before handing the repaired version back to Peter. As much as Remus loved them both, his friends could be so immature.

He knew that once some hormones and alcohol were thrown into the mix tonight things were going to get…interesting.

xxx

Lily couldn't help but feel a little excited as she walked with Marlene, Lizzy and Alice to the party. She was a little nervous too. Her stomach was doing somersaults, though she suspected that was also due to lack of food. They had skipped dinner to get ready in time.

The young girl in the portrait smiled at Lily as she gave the password. As the portrait swung open, Lily let out a gasp. Her common room had been completely transformed.

The dark room was lit by candles which hovered above their heads, basking the surroundings in bright colours. It reminded Lily of the disco lights used at the muggle parties she had gone to with her parents. The tables were piled high with Honeydukes sweets. A Butterbeer fountain gurgled happily nearby.

'Evening ladies!' Sirius shouted as he walked over to them. His face was already ruddy and his eyes looked a little out of focus. 'You're all looking particularly gorgeous tonight.' He was swaying slightly.

Lily eyed the bottle of firewhiskey he was clutching suspiciously. It was half empty.

'Sirius, are you drunk?' she asked.

He laughed. 'Of course not, Lily-pad! I'm still standing aren't I?'

'Sirius…'

'Yes mother?' He grinned mockingly.

Lily shook her head, recognising a lost cause when she saw one.

'Look Lily-pad, I'm enjoying myself! You should try it sometime.' He teased. 'Cos you never know what's going to happen next…I mean one day you're partying with glamorous girls such as yourselves and the next you're running around with a werewolf-'

Lily looked at him quizzically. 'What?'

'It's er-it's an expression…'

Lily rolled her eyes. She would never have expected Sirius to turn philosophical when he was hammered.

'Anyway, nice talking to you ladies...save a dance for me Marlene.' He gave her his signature wink and swaggered off.

'Oh my god.' Marlene gasped, blushing furiously.

She and Lizzy began frantically analysing every possible meaning behind those words. It seemed pretty obvious what he meant, thought Lily, but she knew better than to interrupt this kind of discussion.

Leaving Marlene and Lizzy to their evaluation of a six-word sentence, Lily and Alice went to investigate more important matters. Food.

Lily's mouth watered at the sight of so many delicious sweets. She grabbed a plate and began to fill it with everything within reach.

'Hi Ali.' Frank Longbottom wrapped an arm around Alice's waist and planted a kiss on her cheek. Alice turned rather pink and gave him a hug. Lily smiled at them, they were so adorable.

Then everything went dark.

'Guess who?' A playful voice whispered in her ear.

'James Potter, don't make me curse you.' She answered sarcastically.

His breath tickled her ear as he chuckled. The room became visible again.

'Hi.' He grinned.

'Hi.' She beamed back, his smile was infectious.

'You look…nice.' He played with his hands awkwardly.

'Thanks. So do you.' This wasn't a lie.

'Two compliments in one week? Are you sure you're feeling ok?' He asked with mock concern.

Lily laughed. 'Yeah I must be coming down with something.' She offered him a chocolate frog.

'Thanks.' He accepted it. 'Listen, Lily, I was wondering if you wanted to-'

'Lily!' They both turned to see a tall figure striding towards them.

'Hi Chris!' Lily smiled as he approached. 'How are you?'

'Fine, thanks. Nice to see you James.' Chris nodded at him.

James barely acknowledged the gesture and muttered something unintelligible under his breath.

'Sorry, what was it you wanted to ask me, James?' Lily remembered.

He looked at her for a moment, and then turned to glare at Chris.

'Nothing.' James said, in a harsh voice that didn't belong to him. 'See you around…Evans.'

xxx

James walked off, wanting to put as much distance between himself and Lily as possible. He was too busy cursing under his breath to notice where he was going.

'Sorry.' He muttered as he walked into someone.

'James!' A girl's voice cried excitedly.

He looked up properly and found himself face to face with Rita Skeeter.

'Hi…Rita.' He said half-heartedly.

'Do you want to dance?' She asked, flicking her frizzy hair and battering her false eyelashes at him.

James looked over to where Lily and Chris were standing. He watched with a pang of jealousy as Chris made her laugh.

'Sure, I'll dance with you!' He said as loud as possible, hoping that they would hear.

They walked over to the middle of the room which was acting as the dance floor. James nodded at Sirius who was slow dancing with Marlene and gave him the thumbs up. As Rita reached up to put her arms around James' neck, Sirius pulled a face and gave him the thumbs down.

'Ooh I love this song! It's by the Weird Sisters.' Rita squealed.

'Who?' James asked distractedly.

'They're this new band. Apparently the lead singer is related to Stubby Boardman from the Hobgoblins.' Rita prattled on.

'Right.' James muttered not paying attention. Chris had just touched Lily's arm.

_Get you r hands off her you smarmy-_

'-For the last time _no_ Peter!'

James snapped out of his trance. He looked for the source of commotion and saw Lily's pretty blonde friend snatching her hands out of Peter's and walking away. Peter looked as if he was about to cry.

'Did Peter Pettigrew just ask out Lizzy Clearwater?' Rita sniggered. 'She is _way_ out of his league. I mean, she dated Amos Diggory for over a year, for crying out loud! Saying that, Bertha Jorkins told me that she saw…'

James had to fight the urge to throttle her. Lily would never have laughed at Peter like that. Lily was kind, thoughtful, sweet and…_perfect_.

Looking over at Peter's crestfallen expression, James could tell he wasn't the only one who wished the night's events had turned out differently.

Still, at least things couldn't get much worse…

xxx

On the other side of the castle Minerva McGonagall was fuming.

'Three students out of bed in one night! Never have I been so-'

'Please Professor, it's Potter! He's having a party tonight. It's in-'

'That's enough Snape, fifty points from Slytherin! I would never have expected such behaviour from seventh year students. I will be speaking to Professor Slughorn about this, make no mistake! As for this fabricated excuse-'

'It's not an excuse! I heard Potter telling Black-'

'Do not interrupt me Mr Snape! A further twenty points from Slytherin! Potter obviously fed you a fictitious tale hoping you would fall for it. You have all acted foolishly and I will speak with you tomorrow to arrange your detentions. Return to the Slytherin common room at once. You too Lestrange, Mulciber.'

Professor McGonagall watched as they sloped off towards the dungeons. Though she was almost certain Snape was lying perhaps she would check, just to be sure.

She quickened her pace and hurried towards the Head's common room.

**Dun Dun Dun! A bit of a cliffhanger for you this time! What do you think will happen next? What would you _like_ to happen next? **

** .TaylorLautnerIsMyHomeboy: Thank you so much for all your reviews. I hope I answered all your questions ok!**

**TheHogwartsActress: Your review for chapter 8 was so lovely, I am so glad you're loving this story! You really made my day so thank you :)**

**So what did you think? Let me know by pressing the review button below, you know you want to :)**

**Thanks for reading, drop me a little review!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hi again, sorry it's been so long since the last update! I'm off to university at the weekend and things have been a little hectic. Anyways thanks for coming back and I'm giving you an extra long chapter to make up for it.**

**A massive thank you to my reviewers: MedzR3, CrazyCoffeeLady, clovetf, TheHogwartsActress and TheFutureMrsIanSomerhalder - you guys are awesome please keep reviewing! Thank you also to everyone who's signed up for story alerts and made this one of their favourite stories, I love getting those emails.**

**Thank you also to the brilliant SlytherinRoseWeasley for helping me come up with house elf names, it's harder than it sounds!**

**And finally this chapter is dedicated to the amazing CrazyCoffeeLady who I'm really going to miss, keep in touch!**

**I'll stop rambling on now...enjoy!**

_**Previously…**The marauders throw a party in the Head's common room. James becomes jealous as classmate Chris Jackson shows an interest in Lily. Unsure if she can trust Snape, Professor McGonagall heads to the common room to see if his allegations of a party in the Head's common room are true…_

James sat at the back of the room nervously glancing from side to side. If he could just keep his head down for long enough…

'Prongs!' Sirius roared rushing over to hand his friend another firewhiskey.

'Keep your voice down!' James hissed.

Sirius raised one eyebrow. 'Is Jamesie in trouble?' He cooed.

'What? No!' James snapped. 'I've just escaped- I mean I've just shook off Rita.'

Sirius grinned mischievously.

'You want to be careful with that one, mate. I've heard she's a right nutter. Don't know what you were thinking…'

'I wasn't exactly thinking clearly, was I?' James muttered, looking over towards Lily.

'Bad luck, mate.' Sirius patted him on the back. 'But honestly Evans is never going to touch you with a bargepole now you've been with old bug face.'

James managed a small, harsh chuckle. This wasn't how tonight was supposed to turn out, he thought bitterly as he took another swig of firewhiskey. He was supposed to be the life and soul of the party, not hiding at the back desperately trying to avoid such a nasty, clingy-

'Who's Moony's friend, anyway?' He asked trying to change the subject. Remus was sat talking to a Ravenclaw girl with dark hair, olive skin and glasses.

'I think her name's Hannah or Anna or something. It sounds like banana anyway…'

'Oh crap…' James muttered as he saw Rita searching through the crowd for him.

'Don't worry, I've got this one covered.' Sirius got to his feet, overbalancing slightly.

'Hey everyone!' He shouted. 'Time to go, Prongs here needs his beauty sleep. Thanks for coming, now please clear off! Don't forget to step over Wormtail on the way out, thank you!'

James chuckled, he'd almost forgotten Peter was passed out in front of the portrait hole. Apparently he didn't deal with rejection too well.

'Cheers.' James said gratefully.

'No worries mate, fancy going kitchens? I'm starving!'

xxx

Lily threw herself into an armchair feeling exhausted as she watched the common room begin to empty. She waved at Chris as he headed to the portrait hole with Rita and the other Ravenclaws. He seemed like a really nice guy, even if he was a little…overfriendly.

'Hi Lily.' She looked up to find Remus smiling at her. 'Mind if I join you?'

'Sure.' She replied, gesturing to the empty armchair next to her. 'I haven't seen much of you tonight, where've you been?'

To her surprise Remus blushed. 'I was talking to Anna Shaw.' He muttered.

'The Ravenclaw prefect?'

'Yeah that's her.' Remus blushed deeper and avoided eye contact. 'She was telling me how she wants to be a healer.'

'Oi! Moony, Evans!' Sirius shouted across the room.

'Always the charmer.' Remus shook his head.

'We're going to the kitchens for some grub, you coming?'

xxx

Professor McGonagall strode towards the Head's common room at a fast pace. Turning the corner she confidently gave the password and climbed through the portrait hole, almost losing one of her fluffy slippers.

Her hawk-like eyes scanned the room.

It was empty.

A small house elf was busy sweeping the floor at the back of the room. The elf's eyes grew wide at the sight of the deputy headmistress in a tartan dressing gown.

'I is begging your pardon, Professor.' The elf squeaked, gave a hasty bow and disapparated.

Professor McGonagall frowned. That seemed a little odd. She surveyed the room again and found…nothing. She felt a little foolish for almost believing Mr Snape's blatant lies and not placing more trust in the head boy and girl, Miss Evans especially.

Just as she turned to leave, she saw something which struck her as rather odd. Both bedroom doors were wide open.

She inspected each room individually, almost shaking with anger. Both were empty. The Head boy and girl were both breaking the most fundamental rule in Hogwarts. Students must not wander the school at night.

She crossed the common room and climbed out of the portrait hole onto the corridor.

She would wait here for them to return.

xxx

'Prongsie and Skeeter sitting in a tree!' Sirius sung merrily, as they headed for the kitchens.

'Will you please keep your voice down!' Lily hissed, checking over her shoulder.

'Aww I forgot little miss goody-goody isn't used to breaking the rules.' Sirius simpered mockingly.

Lily sighed. She couldn't believe she was actually doing this.

Sirius threw an arm around her shoulders. 'Don't worry Lily-pad, I'll protect you from the nasty teachers!'

Lily shook her head and let out a small giggle. In spite of his arrogance, overconfidence and immaturity she was really starting to like Sirius.

'Sorry about this Lily.' Remus whispered in her ear. 'He'll behave better once he's had some food.'

'Don't worry about it.' Lily chuckled.

She looked over towards James. He was slouched, walking with his head down and his hands in his pockets. As much as she hated to admit it, Lily preferred his usual strut.

'What's the matter?' she asked.

He looked up briefly.

'Nothing.' He muttered.

'Is someone sulking?' She asked, addressing him as though he was a small child.

James looked at her for a moment, as if deciding whether or not to be amused.

He gave her a small smile. 'Of course not. Wouldn't give you the satisfaction, Ev-Lily.' He faltered.

'Glad to hear it, Po-James.'

He chuckled and ran a hand through his hair.

They reached a small, sheltered corridor Lily had never been down before. It had paintings of food on both sides. They stopped in front of a picture of a fruit bowl.

'Here we are,' Sirius grinned at Lily's confused expression. 'You're in for a treat Evans.'

'What, this is it?' She looked to Remus, making sure this wasn't one big joke. Remus nodded back at her a small twinkle in his eye.

'Fancy doing the honours Lily?' James asked, his face breaking into the most genuine smile Lily had seen all night. She couldn't help but grin back, even though she knew she was missing something.

'Hey, Padfoot! Are pears ticklish?'

'Why yes Prongs, I do believe they are.'

Remus shook his head slightly. 'Lily, why don't you try tickling the pear.'

Lily frowned, it seemed like an odd request. Then it dawned on her, she reached out and touched the pear on the painting with her little finger. To her surprise it squealed and formed something which resembled a doorknob.

'Shall we?' James asked, holding the 'door' open for her.

Lily's mouth dropped. She knew that house elves worked in the kitchens; Hogwarts, A History had taught her that much, but she was still shocked to see so many of them. The room was huge, easily as big as the great hall. James snickered, enjoying the expression on Lily's face.

A small elf ran forwards to greet them.

'Tilly!' Sirius roared. 'How are you?'

'Tilly is so pleased to see misters Sirius, James and Remus again!' The elf squeaked. 'Tilly is wondering where Mr Peter is tonight?'

James and Sirius grinned at each other.

'Let's just say if you here snoring coming from a broom cupboard, don't be alarmed.' James tittered.

'And who is this?' The house elf named Tilly smiled at Lily. 'Tilly is not meeting you before…'

'Oh yeah.' James said. 'Tilly this is our friend Lily, Lily this is the best house elf in the place.'

'Shush Mr James, you is getting me in trouble.' Tilly flushed with a mixture of pleasure and embarrassment. 'Tilly is hearing lots about you, Miss Lily.'

'Really?' Lily asked, surprised.

'Yes Miss, Mr James always-'

'Could we have some extra food, please Tilly?' Remus asked loudly, cutting across her.

'Of course Mr Remus, Tilly is happy to…' She rushed off.

'See why can't all house elves be like that?' Sirius grumbled. 'While I'm stuck with a good-for-nothing…'

'So you talk about me?' Lily asked, turning to face James.

He shrugged. 'I may have mentioned you once or twice.'

They sat down at the long table, which was identical to the Gryffindor table in Great Hall above them.

Tilly returned with a tray piled high with cakes, biscuits and other snacks.

'You are a lifesaver.' Sirius said sinking his teeth into a doughnut.

'Charming.' Lily said as he began eating it loudly. 'What's wrong, Tilly?' She added, looking at the elf's worried expression.

'Tilly has been told of a small problem, miss. Morey has been upstairs cleaning your room, as you asked Mr James, and Morey tells Tilly she is seeing Professor McGonagall in there, sirs and miss.

'McGonagall?'

Tilly nodded. 'Morey thinks the Professor is knowing something is happening there.'

'But how did she know?' Lily asked.

James swore loudly. 'Snivellus. I'd bet anything he tipped her off.'

Lily looked at him quizzically. 'Severus? But how-'

'That doesn't matter right now!' Remus interrupted. 'What matters is she's standing outside your common room as we speak.' He was holding up the marauders' map and sure enough the dot labelled Minerva McGonagall was pacing the corridor leading to the Heads' common room.

Lily groaned. How could she have been so stupid? She was a model student, she never broke the rules, and she had never even got a detention for crying out loud!

'What are we going to do?' She asked James.

He looked like he was concentrating very hard on something, Lily could almost hear the cogs whirring in his head as he tried to formulate a plan.

'Do you trust me?' He asked.

Lily nodded. 'Of course.'

'Then do exactly as I say.'

xxx

James took a deep breath not quite believing what he was about to do.

'Alright.' He whispered. 'Let's get this show on the road.'

xxx

Professor McGonagall started as a tall figure came round the corner.

'Where on earth have you been, Potter?'

He shrugged. 'I've just been out for a walk…'

'Is that so?' She looked at him sternly. 'I think I've got a good idea of what's been going on tonight. It doesn't take a genius to work it out. You fed Mr Snape some ridiculous story about a party, trying to get him caught and into trouble. I've already had words with him tonight and I expect you snuck out hoping to see it happen. Am I right?'

James bowed his head. 'Yes, Professor.'

'I am most disappointed in you, thirty points from Gryffindor! I expected more from you. Where is Miss Evans?'

James looked up. 'Lily?' He asked innocently. 'She-she's in there asleep, isn't she? She was when I left.'

Professor McGonagall narrowed her eyes. 'You're quite sure, Potter? Because when I checked in there only minutes ago I found her room to be empty!'

James looked confused. 'No she's definitely in there.'

Professor McGonagall gave the young girl the password and the portrait swung open. 'Shall we?' She gestured for him to enter. 'Hurry up, Potter we haven't got all night!'

'Sorry Professor.' He took his time climbing through the portrait hole.

They crossed the large circular room and headed to the door at the back which led to the bedrooms.

Professor McGonagall opened the door.

To her great surprise she found Lily curled up in bed, sound asleep.

'See?' James said triumphantly. 'When you were in here, sh-she must just have gone to the bathroom or something…'

'Yes.' She pursed her lips as she shut the door. 'It seems I was mistaken. I will speak with you tomorrow to arrange your detention.'

James nodded miserably as he watched Professor McGonagall leave.

'Oh and Potter.' She called.

James winced. 'Yes, Professor?'

'You should aim to hold try-outs sometime this week. Make sure you put a decent team together this year. We wouldn't want to ruin our winning streak now, would we?'

'No Professor.' James gave a small smile and just for one moment, he thought he saw Professor McGonagall return it.

xxx

Lily breathed out as she heard Professor McGonagall leave. Her heart was pounding in her chest and she felt slightly sick.

James opened the door. 'She's gone.'

'I never thought we'd get away with that.' Lily sighed as she sat up in bed.

'Yeah, me neither.' James grinned mischievously. 'Fun though wasn't it?'

'That wasn't exactly my idea of fun.' Lily laughed in spite of herself. 'Thank you so much for doing that for me, I don't know what I would have done…'

'No problem, Miss Evans.' He winked. 'We couldn't have a stain on that perfect record of yours, now could we?'

Lily chuckled. 'I guess not. I owe you though! What can I do to-'

'Lily, relax. Next time we're in The Three Broomsticks you can buy me a drink, how's that?'

'Fine.' She handed him something. 'How did you get that, they're supposed to be really rare.'

'This?' James asked, taking the invisibility cloak from her. 'Guess you could say it's an old family heirloom.'

'Wow.' Lily breathed. 'I thought I was done for when I climbed through the portrait hole, I was sure it was going to slip off me!'

'Yeah, I tried to buy you as much time as possible. Lucky you managed to get into your room in time.'

'But why didn't you come under the cloak with me? I mean, there was enough room for both of us…'

'I thought you were supposed to be the smart one?' He grinned. 'It was difficult enough to convince Minnie that you'd been there the whole time, there was no way she could have missed both of us.'

'I guess.'

'And besides, who would have opened the portrait hole?'

She smiled at him. 'You're a quick thinker.'

James laughed and ran his hands through his hair. 'I have years of experience in getting out of sticky situations, trust me.'

He headed for the door.

'James?' Lily's voice called from behind him.

He turned to find her much closer than he expected. He found it difficult to breath.

She kissed him on the cheek.

'Thanks again.'

xxx

James opened his trunk and drew out a small, square mirror. Wiping the glass clean with the hem of his robes, James muttered 'Sirius.'

As his best friend's face appeared in front of him he couldn't help but grin.

'Prongs! What happened, did McGonagall give you a hard time?'

Truthfully, James had almost forgotten about his detention.

'Oh that, well yeah I've got detention sometime this week but you'll never guess what just happened-'

As he explained the rest of the night's events to Sirius he felt a smile creeping across his face.

Maybe the night hadn't been so bad after all.

**A/N: What did you think? I know I didn't mention Rita that much but hopefully you picked up that she was a Ravenclaw! I was originally going to include her a lot more in this chapter but I changed it so much that she wasn't really in it as much as I'd plan. **

**Leave me a little review and let me know your opinions please! You know you want to really :)**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hello there! Firstly, it has been far too long! I am so sorry, things have been crazy (in a good way) so it's been hard to find time to write I haven't forgotten about you!**

**I hope you've been enjoying the story so far and really appreciate you coming back for more! Hopefully this chapter will be up to scratch, I found it pretty difficult to write, but never mind it's here now!**

**Wow, 46 reviews that's amazing! I never thought I'd get such a response from my first fanfic so a massive thank you for that.**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter: Alspals, Geneva, NegligibleNina, clovetf, DeanWinchestermyheart , Anna Garlick, Emmulz & lella7 – you guys are awesome.**

**Also much love to the people who got me writing again: Slytherin Rose Weasley, Cosplay & Kathryn **

**Just a warning, this chapter switches perspective a lot more than usual, let me know what you think.**

**Anyway, enough grovelling/waffling for now…happy reading!**

'I still can't believe she kissed you.' Peter gawped, almost tripping over his own feet.

'She hardly kissed him.' Sirius shook his head. 'Besides, little miss perfect would happily snog the giant squid if it meant avoiding detention.'

'Ignore him.' Remus said, as James aimed a half-hearted punch at his best friend's stomach.

Sirius dodged it easily and began making kissing noises.

'Shame you can't have reflexes like that on the Quidditch pitch, Padfoot.' James jeered.

'Yeah, yeah.' Sirius laughed.

They took their usual seats at the Gryffindor table and began helping themselves to breakfast.

'Erm, excuse me?'

A nervous-looking first year was standing behind them. He was small with long fly-away blonde hair and cornflower blue eyes.

'Yes?' Sirius said, in his most intimidating voice.

The boy was clutching a letter in his shaky hand.

'I-I'm supposed to deliver this to James Potter.'

Remus smiled warmly at the boy.

'Thank you, Gilderoy.'

The boy named Gilderoy smiled nervously before scuttling off as fast as his little legs would carry him.

'What is it Prongs?' Peter asked.

James read aloud, '_Your detention will take place this evening with Professor Slughorn. Kindly report to his office at 8 o'clock sharp. Regards, Professor McGonagall_.'

'Professor Slughorn, well that shouldn't be too bad.' Remus said sympathetically.

James wasn't listening. Sirius followed his gaze and found that Lily and Marlene had just entered the great hall.

'Oi! Over here ladies.' Sirius yelled, waving them over.

As everyone in the surrounding area turned to look at them, Marlene giggled and looked thrilled. James noticed Lily's cheeks had started to redden and she was staring determinedly at the floor. It was adorable.

'Morning.' James called, as she sat down opposite him.

'Morning.' Lily replied sleepily, yawning behind her hand.

'Tired?'

'A little. I didn't sleep too well.'

'Too busy thinking about me?' James grinned.

'No, I think it's because whenever I did get to sleep, I kept having these nightmares about a tall, arrogant guy with glasses. It was terrifying.'

'Good one.' James mocked, delighted that she was playing along.

'You were up early this morning.' Lily remarked, whilst helping herself to a glass of milk and skimming the front page of the prophet.

'Yeah, I had to book the Quidditch pitch for try-outs tomorrow night.' He ruffled his hair. 'Y'know, if you're not busy, you should come down and watch. It could be fun.' He added as casually as possible.

'Oh,' Lily's face fell. 'I'm really sorry James, but I'm meeting Chris in the library tomorrow. We're going to study for Slughorn's essay together.'

_Yeah, I bet _that's_ what he has in mind…_

'James?' Lily asked, looking worriedly at him. 'Are you ok?'

He looked away, unable to meet her gaze.

'Of course.' He answered curtly. 'Why wouldn't I be?'

There was a moment's awkward silence between them.

'Listen,' said Lily, 'If you wanted, we could meet in the library this evening instead?'

'Yeah, that sounds-' James broke off, distracted by Remus who had suddenly begun coughing violently.

'You ok, Moony?' He asked, thumping him on the back.

'D-detention.' Remus spluttered.

'What? Oh yeah, my detention's tonight so…' James shrugged.

Lily nodded meekly.

'Anyway, I better get going.' He muttered, swinging his school bag over his shoulder. 'See you around.'

James didn't bother looking back as he walked away.

As he became immersed in the mass of people flooding out of hall, he found that he wanted nothing more than to get lost in the crowd.

xxx

Lily watched as James' retreating figure with an uneasy feeling in her stomach. She felt unbelievably guilty, though she couldn't quite work out why.

She poured herself another glass of milk and gave up trying to read the Daily Prophet, she just couldn't concentrate.

'Bad day?'

Lily looked up and found Remus smiling at her warmly.

'Hi Remus.' She returned his smile. 'How are you?'

'I've been better.' He chuckled weakly.

Lily couldn't help noticing he looked more tired than usual. Dark circles lay beneath his soft brown eyes and his face was pale.

Lily looked at him sympathetically. 'Is there anything I can do?'

He shook his head sadly. 'No, but thank you. I expect I'll be feeling better in a day or two.' He winced.

Lily nodded, but couldn't shake off the feeling that she was missing something.

'Are you going to Hogsmeade next weekend?' Remus asked, changing the subject.

'Yes, I think so.' Lily replied. She loved visiting the little village, exploring its quirky, cobbled streets which were steeped in wizarding history. Plus, she was running low on fizzing whizbees.

'We'll probably see you there then.'

Lily nodded. 'Remus, can I ask you something?'

He raised an eyebrow. 'Of course.'

'Is James ok? He's been acting a bit different recently. Sometimes he's his normal self but then others...'

Remus considered this for a moment. 'True, he has been a little quieter than usual. But you know James, he's never happier than when he's causing mischief. Perhaps he's just a little disappointed he has detention tonight.'

Lily groaned and felt overwhelmed by guilt.

'I just wish there was something I could do…' Her voice trailed off.

'I'm sure you'll think of something.' Remus said, turning to look away from her.

Lily followed his gaze to where Sirius was talking to Marlene. A mischievous grin was etched across his face.

Then it hit her.

'Remus?'

'Yes, Lily?' He answered politely.

'I think I know what I'm going to do.'

'Really?' He asked, sounding only mildly interested, though his eyes were twinkling.

'Yes, thank you.'

Feeling rather smug, Remus watched as she grabbed her belongings and headed towards the entrance hall.

Remus sipped his orange juice thoughtfully.

He could see exactly where things were heading, truthfully he had known for years. He picked up his book and waited patiently for the inevitable to happen.

**xxx**

Lily took a deep breath, unable to believe what she was about to do.

She walked swiftly across the Gryffindor common room to where Sirius was sitting entertaining a group of his sixth year admirers. He looked as if all his birthdays had come at once.

The way the girls were looking at him made Lily feel physically sick. Mel Armstrong was battering her eyelashes so much that for a moment Lily thought she'd been hit with a twitching hex.

Resisting the urge to run away screaming, Lily approached them.

'Sirius?' she muttered.

'…and then I said, 'Hold your hippogriffs mate, I've seen better cuticles on the giant squid!' Sirius roared and the sound of hyena-like laughter filled the common room.

'Sirius!' Lily raised her voice to be heard. The absurd laughter stopped abruptly as each girl's head turned in unison to scowl at Lily. 'Can I have a word with you, er-_alone_?'

Sirius, on the other hand, was beaming.

'Why of course, Lily-pad. Excuse me ladies…' He winked to his group of crestfallen admirers.

They moved to two empty armchairs at the back of the common room. Lily glanced back over her shoulder and found that Sirius' fan club was still glaring at her. _If looks could kill…_

Lily sighed. 'Sirius, I need to ask you something…'

He nodded.

'…I-I've been thinking and, well, the thing is-'

'-Evans, I think I know what this is about.' A look of mock seriousness spread across Sirius' face.

'You do?' Lily asked, surprised.

'Yes.' He nodded gravely, looking back to where his fan club was sitting. 'I won't beat around the bush. I know this is difficult for you, of course I do, but it just wouldn't be right. You can understand that, can't you?'

Lily narrowed her eyes. She didn't trust that coy smirk that was spreading across his face.

'What are you-'

'-Look Lily-pad, I know that you find me irresistible and I don't blame you, you're only human after all!' He winked. 'But I'm afraid you'll just have to join the queue like everyone else, it just wouldn't be fair on the rest of them.'

'Oh ha ha.' Lily mocked, hitting him playfully on the arm. 'No, really I need to-'

'-of course, things might have been different between us-'

'Sirius…'

'-but I could just never do that to my Jamesie-'

'I'm warning you!' Lily growled.

'-oh fine just one quick snog behind the broom sheds, but that's it!' Sirius sniggered at the look on her face, thoroughly enjoying himself as Lily fumed.

'How you have so many girls after you, I will never understand.' Lily groaned.

'I think it's called animal magnetism, but I'll look it up for you.' He winked as Lily rolled her eyes. 'Anyway Lily-pad, what can I do for you?'

Lily twirled her hair around her little finger thoughtfully without making eye contact. 'Well I was, erm- wondering if you could maybe help me out with something.'

'I'm listening.' He answered, sounding intrigued.

Lily bit her lip, wondering how best to approach this. 'Ok, so er-well the thing is…about that-'

'Spit it out.' Sirius grinned, enjoying winding her up.

'Fine. Everyone knows that you guys are forever pulling pranks…'

'Yes...'

'…and you _almost_ always manage to get away with it-'

'-it is a rare gift.' Sirius stared dreamily into the distance.

'So if I needed to, say…stage a prank, you would probably be the best person to go to, right?'

'Does this conversation have a purpose?' Sirius teased.

'I'm getting there!' Lily said. 'So i-if I needed some kind of prank to get a friend out of detention this evening, would you be willing to help?'

Sirius' grin grew wider. 'Tut tut tut, Lily Evans asking for my rule-breaking expertise. Never thought I'd see the day…Prongs will be impressed.'

Lily rolled her eyes dramatically.

'So you'll help me?'

'Are you kidding? I would never miss the opportunity to turn a goody two-shoes into a marauder.' His eyes twinkled with mischief.

Lily sighed. This was exactly what she had been hoping for, and exactly what she had been dreading.

'Yeah, yeah. So do we have a plan?'

'Lily-pad, there is _always_ a plan…'

Xx

James stared lazily out of the window and watched as the sun began to sink slowly behind the mountains.

'-and then I told him, 'I don't care how many awards you have my boy, you were always dire at potions!' Slughorn chortled loudly to himself. 'That was before he became head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, of course…'

James slumped onto his desk, flattening the papers he was supposed to be sorting.

Detentions were always tedious but usually he had Sirius to keep him company. He couldn't even bring himself to chuck things at Snivellus' slimy head, it just wasn't worth the effort.

He put his head on the desk, closed his eyes and prayed for it to be over. Slughorn prattled on, blissfully unaware that his audience was rapidly slipping into unconsciousness.

Xxx

'If this works it will be an absolute miracle.' Lily muttered to herself.

Glancing down at the old, square mirror she was holding, Lily saw Sirius' face staring back at her.

'Relax.' Sirius smirked. 'This is all part of the fun.'

Lily shook her head in disbelief. She'd broken more school rules in her brief time as Head Girl than in her other six years put together. Yet here she was, preparing to cause more mayhem in a bid to help a person she loathed. Well, used to loath.

'Ready?' Sirius asked, from the inside of the mirror.

Lily took a deep breath.

_Here goes nothing…_

'Ready.'

xxx

'…not that I would ever dream of asking for such favours, as you know boys but…'

Slughorn's voice filled the room as he continued to drone on and on.

'Excuse me, Professor,' a quiet voice called from the back of the classroom.

James' eyes snapped open. He'd recognise that voice anywhere.

'Miss Evans! This is a pleasure, what can I do for you?'

'I hope I'm not interrupting?'

'Not at all, my dear!' Slughorn cried. 'I was just telling the gentlemen here some stories from old times, I seem to have got a bit carried away…'

What was she doing here? James wondered. As he turned around to face Lily, she caught his eye and winked. That seemed odd.

'I was wondering if I could ask you about Golpalotts' Third Law?'

'Then ask away, m'dear!' Slughorn boomed.

Instantly, James knew that couldn't be the real reason for her sudden appearance. If anyone knew Golpalotts's 'boring-as-hell' Laws inside out it was Lily Evans and he should know, he had copied her essay on that very topic last year. Not bad for an 'Outstanding'…

As Lily passed, James watched as she took a small piece of parchment from her pocket and hastily dropped it on his desk.

Filled with curiosity, James hastily unfolded the note and began to read.

Xxx

Lifting his head up from the desk, Severus Snape stretched his arms lazily in front of him and watched with interest as Lily engaged Professor Slughorn in a debate on antidotes.

He couldn't help noticing how the light from the setting sun danced on her thick, red hair as she animatedly argued her case.

'…an interesting point my dear, one which even Golpalott himself considered to be…'

Severus was transported back to their first summer before Hogwarts. When she told him everything. When she was _his_ Lily…

'_I'm scared, Sev.'_

'_What are you scared of?'_

'_What if I can't do magic? What if they send me home?'_

'_That won't happen. And if they do, they'll have me to answer to.'_

'_You'll help me?'_

'_Always.'_

The sound of her voice brought Severus crashing back to the present.

'But, with respect sir, that still doesn't address the issue of ratio…'

She would always be his Lily, no matter how much she loathed him. Nothing would ever change that.

Even if she was spending far too much time with _Potter_, he thought to himself bitterly. Arrogant, thick-skulled Potter.

Potter would never deserve her.

Severus glanced over to where James was sitting, full of hatred and jealousy.

_It isn't over yet…_

Xxx

James stared down at the crumpled piece of parchment in disbelief. Was this Lily's strange idea of a joke?

Trying to make as little noise as possible, he scraped back his chair and opened the window. It creaked loudly.

Looking out into grounds, he noticed a dark silhouette which stood out against the sunset. James his craned his neck and watched as the figure grew closer and closer.

Suddenly, he realised what it was and could barely restrain himself from laughing out loud.

Sirius Black was flying straight towards him on a broomstick. Sirius hovered outside the window and motioned for James to climb on.

Taking great care, James pulled himself onto the window ledge and stole a quick glance over his shoulder. Slughorn had his back to him and was deep in conversation with Lily. She nodded at him, her eyes twinkling.

Was Lily really behind this?

'No!'

James spun around, almost overbalancing. Severus Snape was running towards him looking murderous.

He lunged for James' legs at the exact same time as James launched himself out of the window. Snape let out a wail of agony as he collided with the window ledge, a split second too late.

He watched in disgust as Sirius and James flew off into the sunset, howling with laughter as they went.

xxx

'Mr Snape, are you quite alright? What on earth has happened?'

Severus looked up to see Professor Slughorn gazing down at him, a look of concern etched across his wrinkled face.

'It was him, sir!' Severus spat as he pulled himself to his feet. 'P-Potter! He escaped while you were talking to…Evans'.

He broke off to glance around the classroom but there was not a glimpse of red hair in sight.

'Evans? Potter?' Slughorn frowned. 'My dear boy, you seem quite confused. There are just the two of us here. Perhaps you'd better have a lie down?'

'What d'you-? Potter was here a minute ago-you saw him! Black was on a broomstick outside the window-'

'Merlin's beard Severus! I think I would have noticed if Sirius Black was –'

'But you didn't Professor because you were too busy talking to-'

'That is enough!' Slughorn raised his voice. 'I don't know what's got into you tonight Severus but let me assure you that I have been sat at my desk for the last hour and no one but yourself has entered this classroom! I haven't seen Miss Evans or Mr Potter since the lesson this morning.'

'But, I swear-'

'I don't want to hear it! You will continue filing your papers and when you have done so I suggest you pay a visit to Madam Pomfrey in the hospital wing. Do I make myself clear?'

'Yes sir.' Severus growled in frustration.

He watched as a dreamy expression crossed Slughorn's face and he began to hum 'Odo the Hero' absentmindedly. Perhaps he was losing it in his old age.

This was just typical Potter, he thought menacingly as he returned to his desk. He bent down to rub his throbbing ankle when something caught his eye.

A small piece of parchment was lying on the floor besides Potter's desk. He recognised the handwriting instantly.

Severus carefully picked up the note and began to read. What he saw there was like a blow to his chest.

_James_

_We're going to get you out. As soon as Slughorn's back is turned, go over to the window and wait for Padfoot. Don't hesitate, I'll take care of the rest._

Shaking with anger, Severus swore furiously under his breath and tore up the parchment.

_This is _not_ over…_

The remains of Lily's betrayal were scattered around his desk like confetti.

Xxx

James felt the most unbelievable sense of freedom as the wind whipped his face and he and Sirius flew higher and higher above the castle.

They drew level with the astronomy tower and dismounted.

James looked at Sirius and burst out laughing.

'What the hell just happened?' he asked, thoroughly baffled by the evening's events.

Sirius grinned broadly.

'I do believe you were just rescued.'

'But h-how? Why?'

Sirius chuckled. 'It all started this afternoon when a certain young lady asked for my help to get her friend out of detention…'

'Lily?' James asked, bewildered.

'The very same.' Sirius winked. 'Apparently she doesn't hate you as much as we thought.'

James considered this for a moment.

'Bu-but, Slughorn will have noticed that one minute I was in detention and the next-'

'Little Miss Perfect took care of that one for us.' Sirius grinned. 'Slughorn now vividly remembers receiving a letter from Professor McGonagall explaining how you were unable to attend detention this evening due to illness. He has no recollection that Evans was there at all.'

'She confunded him?' James gasped.

Sirius shrugged. 'Looks like we're rubbing off on her.'

They entered the tower and headed towards the staircase.

As James opened the door, a red-haired figure flew into the room and collided with him.

'S-sorry.' Lily muttered, catching herself.

'No problem.' James grinned.

He couldn't express everything he was feeling in that instant.

'Lily, I er- thanks.' He stuttered, feeling a little foolish.

'You're welcome.'

They looked at each other for a moment. James stared deep into her emerald green eyes and felt content.

'For God's sake, just kiss her!' Sirius shouted from somewhere behind them.

James felt his face grow hot and saw that Lily, too, was blushing furiously.

He caught her eye and they both burst out laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation.

Aiming a swift kick at Sirius, James grabbed Lily's hand and together they descended down the spiral staircase, still roaring with laughter as they went.

**A/N: Sooo…what did you think? Good, bad or ugly?**

**What did you think of Snape's perspective? I wasn't entirely sure whether to include it or not so let me know your opinions please.**

**Alspals – Wow, comparing my writing style to JKR? Not sure I deserve that but thank you. Glad you're enjoying it so far.**

**DeanWinchesterMyHeart – Thanks for your review, it's great to hear your feedback. I've never really understood why Pettigrew was a Gryffindor either, it's always confused me a little. He was so cowardly but I guess he did show some remorse in the end though, still not convinced that makes him a Gryffindor but it's the only thing I can think of. Any thoughts?**

**Anna Garlick – Cheers, I want them all to be real too…*sigh***

**Thanks for reading! Keep the reviews and questions coming in, I love hearing from you. **


	12. Chapter 12

**Hi everyone! I know it has been much, much too long since my last update so apologies for that. Thanks for coming back for chapter 12.**

**A massive thank you to everyone who has reviewed and subscribed to this story so far. As always, don't forget to drop me a review. Cheers!**

**_Previously..._**_Lily and Sirius snuch James out of detention from under the nose of Professor Slughorn, much to the disgust of Severus Snape. Ravenclaw seventh year, Chris Jackson has been displaying an interest in Lily. Their plans to meet up have brought out a jealous streak in James..._

'That's not true and you know it!' Lily giggled, hitting James lightly on the arm with her charms textbook.

'What?' James feigned innocence. 'How else would you get top marks in every single subject?'

'Oh I don't know…maybe it's because I don't spend all my time gallivanting around the castle looking for trouble!' Lily teased. 'And even if I _had_ found Ravenclaw's diadem, I'd hardly come bragging to you about it, would I?'

'I guess not.' James smiled, doodling on his piece of parchment. His brow was furrowed in concentration as he carefully sketched the outline of a snitch with his quill. 'I still can't believe you convinced me to spend my free period in the _library_.'

'Stop moaning or Madam Pince will have us thrown out.' Lily replied, thoroughly amused by James' sulky behaviour. She reached over him for her copy of Advanced Potion Making.

'Ugh, that old hag's had it in for me and Sirius since we had that fanged frisbee tournament in the restricted section.'

Lily shook her head without even bothering to hide her smile. She was finding that she and James were spending more and more time together just walking to classes, doing the rounds or simply chatting in their common room. She was also surprised to find that these moments were rapidly becoming her favourite part of her day.

James began trying to balance his quill on his upper lip. Lily sighed and closed her book. He was _such_ a distraction.

'James, promise me something?'

He looked at her intrigued. 'What?'

'Never grow a moustache!'

James snorted and stroked his feather 'moustache' affectionately, which only made Lily laugh harder.

A short cough came from behind them. Lily turned to see who it was.

'Oh…hi.' She managed to splutter between giggles.

Chris Jackson was standing directly behind them. The expression on his face clearly stated that he was less than impressed.

'Hello Lily,' he answered coolly, looking rather agitated. 'Potter.' He added stiffly, nodding briefly in James' direction.

James didn't acknowledge the greeting but instead stared at Chris coldly.

Sensing the rising tension, Lily searched helplessly for something to say. Chris' hands were balled up into fists and James' face bore no trace of his signature grin. A few more painful seconds passed before James broke the frosty silence. 'Come on Lil, we're going to be late for charms.'

Lily checked her watch and found that he was right. She began hurriedly packing away her things and felt herself beginning to blush.

'Are we still meeting up tonight, Lily?' Chris asked hastily, staring determinedly at her.

James' textbook hit the floor with a _bang!_ Lily jumped as the loud noise echoed through the library and she dropped several rolls of parchment on the floor.

'Erm, yes of course.' Lily spluttered, feeling rather flustered by the whole situation. 'Shall we say…six o'clock in the Entrance Hall?'

'Looking forward to it.' Chris grinned smugly. He swiftly picked up Lily's parchment from the floor, shot James one last filthy look and he stalked off down the corridor.

'What's his problem?' Lily muttered as they headed in the opposite direction towards the Charms classroom.

James ruffled his hair carelessly.

'I'm pretty sure I could guess,' came James' nonchalant reply. He looked at her expectantly but Lily was having difficulty conjuring a response.

Instead she merely shrugged carelessly, determinedly not meeting his gaze. Silence fell again between them and Lily found herself searching desperately for something to say. Their footsteps echoed through the empty corridor.

'I still can't believe you're ditching me at Quidditch trials tonight!' James attempted to tease her, though something about it seemed a little forced. 'And for a library date with Jackson too! Talk about adding insult to injury…'

'I'm not ditching you,' Lily sighed, hitching her bag further onto her shoulder. 'And it is definitely _not_ a date.'

If she was being honest with herself, Lily had to admit that she was getting a little tired of Chris. Whenever they were together he was his usual charming self, yet Lily couldn't help but notice how hostile he became when she spent time with other people. He had practically interrogated her when she had spent the evening with Marlene and Alice instead of him. As for James, well, it was clear that they weren't about to become pals anytime soon.

Lily looked up into James' cloudy expression but was pleased to see that he looked a little happier than before. As they reached the charms classroom, James held open the door for her and they snuck inside. The class had just begun, so they hurriedly took their seats at the back of the room. Professor Flitwick didn't appear to have noticed their late arrival. He was in his usual spot, perched on a towering pile of textbooks, demonstrating a particularly complex wand movement.

Lily took her things out of her bag and gazed thoughtfully out of the window. She knew that James was a little annoyed that she wouldn't be at the Quidditch trials tonight and this bothered Lily more than she thought it would.

These feelings took her by surprise. _I'm just feeling guilty that I'm letting a friend down, _Lily thought to herself, though that didn't explain the butterflies which were fluttering in her stomach or the thumping of her heart in her chest.

Pushing these thoughts from her mind, Lily carefully dipped her quill in ink and began taking notes, praying as she did so that the solution to her problems would fall out of the sky.

xxx

The evening sun basked the Hogwarts grounds in a warm, golden light as James strode confidently onto the Quidditch pitch, proudly holding his brand new Cleansweep over his shoulder.

He was greeted by the large selection of Gryffindor students who had signed up for trials. There were both boys and girls alike of all different shapes and sizes. James was pleased to see the familiar faces of last year's team were floating amongst the sea of hopefuls, though he also hoped to find some fresh, new talent too.

As he divided the students into groups, James glanced absentmindedly up at the stands and found that a good number of students had turned up to watch the trials. He noticed Sirius, Remus and Peter sitting in their usual spot. He heard Sirius wolf-whistle at him from the stands and chuckled to himself. Though he knew it wasn't possible, James couldn't help but hope Lily would be there too.

With great difficulty, he pushed Lily out of his mind and turned to address the Gryffindors in front of him.

'On my whistle, 3-2-1…' James gave a sharp blast on the whistle and kicked off from the ground. His surroundings became a whirlwind of colour and he felt free once more.

xxx

Remus watched from the stands as James put the Gryffindor hopefuls through their paces. Though he had never been particularly interested in Quidditch, he couldn't help but admire his friend's skill and precision as he soared up and down the pitch, firing orders in every direction.

'I'm hungry.' Sirius moaned, shaking his head.

'You've just had dinner.' Remus replied, tearing his eyes away from the Quidditch pitch.

Sirius shrugged his shoulders, looking sulky.

Remus looked at his friend for a moment, torn somewhere between amusement and exasperation. Eventually he gave in.

'Here.' Remus said, handing Sirius the large slab of Honeydukes chocolate he'd been saving for later.

'Cheers Moony!' Sirius grinned, sinking his teeth into the mouth-watering chocolate.

Remus looked away in mock disgust as his friend began eating loudly. As he did so, Remus spotted someone coming towards them. He was mildly surprised to see her, James had wasted no time in telling them that she would be otherwise engaged this evening.

Still there she was, Remus watched as Lily Evans wrapped her Gryffindor scarf around her neck as she climbed higher and higher into the stands. As she drew closer, Remus noticed that her features were pulled into a frown and she looked rather upset.

'Lily!' Remus called to her as she passed. The sound of his voice seemed to wake her from her trance.

'Oh, Remus, hi…' Her voice was croaky.

'Would you like to join us?' Remus asked, gesturing to the empty seat on his right.

She smiled at him gratefully and sat down. Sirius turned to grin at her, his mouth covered in chocolate.

'I see you've forgotten to wear your bib again, Sirius.' Lily chuckled weakly.

'Very funny, Evans.' Sirius wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his robes. 'What are you doing here anyway? Prongs said you had a date?'

Lily's face fell. 'It was _not_ a date. Please just don't ask.'

'Was Slughorn's essay not as exciting as you'd hoped?' Sirius asked mockingly, his eyes twinkling. 'Or perhaps Jackson's not up to scratch in the snogging department?'

Remus wanted to kick his friend for being so tactless.

'Lily, I am so sorry. Just ignore-'

'-Don't worry about it Remus.' Lily cut across him. 'If you must know Sirius, Jackson only asked me to the library so he could interrogate me about James. And when I refused to answer his pathetic questions, he told me that as I was so obviously obsessed with Potter I should go and stop wasting his time. And then he called me a...'

Lily's voice broke and she couldn't continue. She turned away from them, dabbing the corners of her eyes with her scarf. A moment's silence followed her outburst before -

'-Geez, Evans! You need this more than I do.' Sirius sighed, handing her the remains of the chocolate.

Lily looked at him for a few moments before tittering half-heartedly. 'Wow, you're sharing your food? I must look pretty bad.'

'Terrible.' Sirius agreed, though his smile was a little more sympathetic than usual.

xxx

'So, yeah, thanks for coming and I'll put the training timetable up in the common room later this week.' James smiled proudly as he addressed his newly-formed Quidditch team for the first time.

He felt exhausted but rather pleased. The players were by no means perfect, but with a bit of training James felt confident they would give the other house teams a run for their money. He dismissed them and began wrestling the bludgers back into the Quidditch chest.

'Nice one Prongs!' James heard Sirius shout from somewhere behind him. 'Good call on picking Ella Perks, you could use a bit of glamour on the team.'

James snorted as shut the chest. 'Do you ever think about anything el-' He stopped short as he noticed who was standing next to his best friend.

'Lily…hi.' He ran a hand through his hair. 'You made it then?'

She nodded sheepishly. 'Yeah, I had a slight…change of plans.' Lily replied, not quite meeting his eye. He couldn't help but notice she looked a little upset.

Behind her back, Sirius winked at him deliberately and gave him the thumbs up. James frowned, unsure of what to think. Then it hit him.

'Nice work tonight, Prongs.' Remus patted him on the back. 'Looks like you've got a good shot at the Cup.'

'Yeah, Mulciber's team have got no chance!' Peter squeaked with enthusiasm.

James beamed at his friends.

'Anyway we should probably be going, we've still got that Charms essay to finish.' Remus smiled knowingly. 'Come on Peter, Sirius…'

'What?' Sirius protested. 'Moony, that's not due in for ages and…'

Remus gave him a meaningful look, subtly tilting his head towards Lily.

'…Oh, yeah that Charms…thing.'

James smiled gratefully at Remus, who gave him a small nod before heading back towards the castle with Peter and Sirius.

As the sound of their footsteps died away, the only disturbance to the silence was the soft whistling of the evening breeze. James looked at Lily, but found she was staring intently at a pair of owls which were hovering over the Quidditch pitch. They watched them intently until they raced off to the owlery, their outlines silhouetted against the crimson sky.

Unable to bear the silence any longer, James blurted out the first thing that popped into his head.

'So…I take it tonight didn't go exactly as planned?' He cringed inwardly at how that sounded. He had never been very good with words, Remus was the one who knew just what to say in these situations but he and Sirius were much more comfortable making inappropriate jokes.

'You could say that.' Lily mumbled, staring at the ground. James struggled to think of a time when he had seen her looking more downhearted. She was twirling her thick red hair around her fingertips, almost nervously.

'What did Jackson say to you?' James asked, his voice full of concern.

Lily shrugged. 'Nothing that you need to worry about. I just won't be seeing much of him…anymore.'

James frowned. There was still something she wasn't telling him.

'Lily, if he's upset you-'

'-look he's not worth bothering about.' She sniffed. 'All I want to do is to forget about him and spend some time with…a friend.'

She looked up at him with her big, emerald eyes almost pleadingly. He had never seen her looking so vulnerable. Without thinking about it, James reached out and pulled her into a hug.

'It's ok.' He whispered in her ear. 'And remember, anytime you feel like getting your own back, I'm pretty sure that Sirius has just perfected the bat-bogey hex.'

Lily laughed softly, her warm breath tickling his neck.

'I know something that'll cheer you up.' James smiled.

'Really?' Lily asked, sounding sceptical.

'Trust me.' He grinned.

xxx

'James, I really don't know about this.' Lily muttered. She was feeling rather dizzy, her palms were sweating and she could feel herself begin to panic. 'I've never, I-'

'-Lily, would you just relax?' He smiled mischievously. 'I know exactly what I'm doing, you're in very safe hands.'

'I know, but-'

'Lily…'

'-you're not listening to me!'

'…you're going to enjoy this-.'

'-I told you, _I don't like flying!_' She hissed through gritted teeth.

'Calm down.' He grinned as she tried to protest. He placed his hands on her shoulders. 'Listen to me, this is going to be _fun_.'

Lily sighed in frustration as he picked up the broomstick. She should have known coming to Potter would be a mistake. She could be moaning to Alice and Marlene over a tub of ice cream by now. She muttered something quietly under her breath.

Not quietly enough it seemed…

'Wash your mouth out, Lily Evans! I would never have expected such language from our Head Girl.' James mocked, his eyes twinkling. 'Although if anything _does_ go wrong, I give you my permission to stick this broomstick wherever you see fit.'

xxx

'How are you doing back there?' James yelled over his shoulder.

'I-I'm ok.' She stuttered, clinging to James for dear life.

She could feel the wind in her face and whipping through her hair as they sped around the Hogwarts grounds at a breath-taking speed. It really was a beautiful sight. The surrounding mountains were silhouetted against the glorious sunset, the fiery shades of red and orange were reflected in the lake.

Of course, Lily saw none of this as her eyes were tightly shut and had been since they took off, several minutes ago.

'You can open your eyes, you know.' James chuckled, thoroughly amused by her antics.

'No no, I'm ok thanks.' Lily chimed, her voice several octaves higher than usual. 'I actually prefer it like this.' She added, trying to sound as natural as possible.

James shook his head and smirked in amusement.

'Lily Evans, open your eyes this instant or I'll…' He leaned forwards and they plummeted a few metres. Lily cried out and held on tighter than ever.

'Stop!' She shrieked. 'Ok, Ok…'

She opened her eyes a fraction and squinted into the late evening sun. A whirlwind of colour flashed passed them as they headed towards the horizon.

James laughed out loud and after a few moments Lily couldn't help joining in. He was right, she did feel remarkably better. It was like she had left all of her troubles on the ground below…along with her stomach.

Lily felt her heartbeat racing, adrenaline coursed through her veins and the butterfly-like sensation had returned, yet Lily was almost certain that this had little to do with the exhilarating height or speed that they were travelling at. It was more, perhaps, due to the person she was sharing this moment with.

She wrapped her arms still tighter around James' waist, leant her head against his shoulder and watched as the sun gradually sank behind the mountains.

xxx

'Ok, I admit it.' Lily said, as their feet touched the ground once again. 'I do feel a lot better now. Thank you.'

'Anytime.' He smiled, as they dismounted. James took a step towards her. 'It was my pleasure.'

James was standing too close. Much too close. She stared deep into his hazel eyes and felt a blush blossom on her cheeks. She breathed in his musky scent once more and felt safe as he ever so slowly, almost cautiously, wrapped his arms around her waist. His warm breath tickled her face, she could feel her heartbeat pounding as he tucked a strand of loose hair behind her ear. She noticed a small smile playing about his lips, a ghost of his mischievous grin which she had grown to love. Unable to bear the suspense, Lily leaned in closer just as James did the same. Lily took a deep breath and closed her eyes…

xxx

After deciding to take a late night stroll around the grounds, Lily and James walked back towards the castle together. James had his arm casually around her shoulders and Lily's was wrapped around his waist. Though she had his Quidditch robes draped around her shoulders, Lily still shivered though she wasn't completely sure if she could blame that on the cold.

She still couldn't quite believe the course the evening had taken and from the look on James' face, neither could he.

As they reached the castle entrance, James retrieved a piece of parchment from his pocket.

'Here take this.' He handed it to Lily and she immediately recognised it as the strange, moving map of Hogwarts he had shown her once before. 'I'm just going to the broom sheds to put this stuff away. I won't be long.'

He gave her a quick peck on the cheek and sprinted around the corner. Lily watched as the dot named 'James Potter' streaked off back towards the Quidditch pitch.

It really had been a lovely evening. Lily checked at the map and found that Filch was pacing the fifth floor corridor with his beloved Mrs Norris and Peeves was in the astronomy tower, no doubt wreaking havoc. The rest of the castle seemed fairly still.

Then something caught her eye, Lily noticed another dot moving on the map. With a jolt in her stomach, she realised the dot was heading rapidly towards her.

It was labelled 'Severus Snape'.

**Hope that was worth waiting for! I aim to have the next chapter up in the next few weeks. Thanks again for reading and pretty please leave me a review.**


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